CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 




d^: 




MINISINK BATTLE 



-A.CTTJ-A.Ij B-A-XTHLE FIEIL3D 



Jtll^^S^ 3:3a, 1879. 



WITH THE 

PRAYEE, ORATION AND SPEECHES DELTVERED ON 
THE OCCASION; 



Incidents Connected with the Celebration. 

COLLATED AND PUBLISHED BY 

J. W. Johnston and Albert Stage, 

Sarryyille, N. Y. 



John Wallek, Pkintek, 
MONTICELLO, K. Y. 



^^5' 



CENTEMIAL CELEBEATION 



.& ^f 



MINISINK BATTLE 



ON THE 






WITH THE 



PRAYER, ORATION AND SPEECHES DELIVERED ON 
THE OCCASION; 



AND THE 



Incidents Connected ivith the Celebration. 

COLLATED AND PUBLISHED BY 

J. W. Johnston and Albert Stage, 

BajTyville, N. Y. 



John Wallek, Pkintek, 
MOSTICELLO, N. Y. 



t. / 



THE BATTJ.E FIELD. 



ITS LOCATION, AND THE MARCH OF HOSTILE 
ARBIIES THERETO. 



B^x- J". "\A7-. joi3:isrsToisr, esq. 



The Minisink Battle occupies its proper page in American 
history, and the 22d day of July, 1779, is acknowledged as 
the day on which that sanguinary battle was fought. 

The field of the battle is also well understood by the 
public in general, while a few have recently sought to raise a 
question as to its locality. 

It is desirable that such a question be carefully consid- 
ered and rightfully settled, and that all reasonable doubt in 
regard to a matter of such importance be dispelled. 

It is a lamentable fact that the history of the battle is 
deficient in many essential jjarticulars, and that by an unpar- 
donable negligence much information has been irretrievably 
lost, and which if once collected and preserved by those who 
possessed the opportunity, would now be hailed as a valuable 
possession. 

A number of the men actually engaged in the conflict lived 
and circulated among their former neighbors for years afterward, 
and the means of information thereby presented, together with 
others of equal certainty, but serve to prove the indifference 
of mankind in regard to matters of such lively interest to those 
living in after years. 

But whatever doubt may surround many incidents con- 
nected with it, the fact is established that the one place entitled 
to the distinction of being the field of the Minisink Battle is 
situate in what is now the town of Highland, County of SulUvan 
and State of New York, and in lots number sixteen and seven- 
teen in the seventh division of the Minisink Patent. By an 



air line the cTistatiee of the field from the village of Barry viUe 
in said town of Highland is 288 chains, or three and three-fifths 
miles, and about four and one-half miles by the usual route 
of travel. From Lackawaxen it is distant about one and one- 
fourth miles by road, and is elevated above the level of the Del- 
aware river at that place not less than 1,000 feet. 

The field itself is a plateau formed by a ledge of rock, 
most of which is covered by earth to a depth sufficient to sup- 
port the growth of shrubbery. The edges of the ledge present a 
projection towards the southeast, southwest and northwest, and 
when viewed together form, most nearly, a semi-circle. Toward 
the S. E. the face of the ledge is somewhat broken, 15 to 18 feet 
liigh and may be ascended or descended without much difficulty. 
Towards the S. W. it is in part composed of broken rock, while 
another part exhibits a steep hill some 25 feet in height. To- 
wards the N. W. the face of the rock is very nearly perpendicu- 
lar, quite solid, about 15 feet high, and at the base of which, it 
is fully believed, Col. Tusten and the wounded under his care 
\rere tomahawked after the Indians gained the advantage. 

A little north-westerly from the central point of the plateau, 
a hill rises to an extent of 30 or 40 feet, extending towards the 
N. W. and N. E., but towards the S. E. terminating in a manner 
so that from 100 to 150 feet of level surface remains betw^een 
the foot of the hill and the S. E. brink of the ledge. 

The ground occupied by the white people in the battle is 
from a quarter to half an acre in extent, and is the westerly por- 
tion of the plateau, while the Indians and tories occupied the 
part east, the hill above mentioned and the level ground extend- 
ing around and behind the south-easterly point of the hill; all of 
which will be more readily seen from the draft given herewith. 

The imperfect breast-work of the whites so hastily erected 
may still be traced, and which as late as 1839 was so distinct as 
to leave no doubt of its direction and extent, or the ground occu- 
pied by those it was intended to shield. 

That w^e have not mistaken the battle field, let the following 
evidence be respectfully submitted: 

When the bones of the slain w^ere collected and removed to 
Goshen for burial, they were found upon this plateau and at the 
base of the ledge of which it is composed. 

Is there proof of the assertion ? If I may refer to my own 
personal acquirements, I answer that my information enables 
me to answer affirmatively; and that others may judge of its 
sufficiency, I give the evidence by which I have been convinced. 

John Carpenter formerly owned and resided upon what is 
known as the Beaver Brook farm situate in the town of High- 
land, and where the waters of the Beaver Brook and Dry Brook 
unite with the Delaware river; the farm on which he was bom 
and grew to manhood and whereon, as we are informed by a 



member of the family, bis father settled in 1782, three years after 
the battle. 

Mr. Carpenter was a man of an active, intelligent mind, of 
inquiring habits, retentive memory, easy and accurate in his 
communications, and probably reached the period of his majority 
near the beginning of this nineteenth contury. 

In the Autumn of 1839 I called upon him at his place of 
residence and asked him to show me the ground on which the 
Minisink Battle was fought. He kindly consented and led the 
way up and along the valley of the Dry Brook where neither 
road nor pathway had yet been opened for about the distance of 
1 1-4 miles, until we entered upon the plateau I have described. 
This he designated to me as the battle field and conversed upon 
many incidents connected with it. 

Here, 60 years after the battle, was to be seen the frail 
breast work which the few brave men in the hour of peril and 
in the anxiety of their hearts had erected in the presence of the 
savage foe, with each and every stone, apparently, in the position 
their hardy hands had placed them. 

Joseph Carpenter, and brother of the gentleman before 
named, once owned and resided upon a farm situate along the 
same Beaver Brook, two miles up the stream, and where the old 
Cochecton road crosses the same. He was a very tew years 
younger than liis brother; settled here about the same time, and 
the foregoing statement respecting the habits and abilities of the 
one, is equally true of the other. 

In the year 1843 I first heard that this Mr. Joseph Carpen- 
ter had assisted in collecting the bones of the heroes from the 
battle ground, and at an early day thereafter I journeyed to the 
place -of Mr. Carpenter and learned from him that such was the 
fact. I informed him that I felt a degree of solicitude in regard 
to the battle field and the events associated with it, was 
anxious to acquire whatever reliable information subsisted, and 
that I would cheerfully pay him for his time and labor if he 
would accompany me to the battle field, and give me such infor- 
mation as he possessed relative to the collection of the bones and 
to all other matters pertaining to the ground, the battle, &c., &o. 
He appointed the following Saturday for the journey, and sug^- 
gested that I be at his place at an early hour of that day. I care- 
fully attended to the appointment and arrived at his house at 9 
o'clock a. m. 

His good lady, (Aunt Dorcas) than whom a kinder did not 
live, provided for us an ample lunch and we commenced our 
appointed journey. On leaving the premises of Mr. C. we pass- 
ed some distance up and along the old Cochecton road, and then 
through a pathless wild until we arrived upon this same plateau, 
where we remained, exploring the ground and surroundings,, 



4. 

searching for relics and rehearsing traditions of the battle, until 
the sun was nearing the brow of the western hill. 

Here was what the second Mr. Carpenter recognized as the 
ground on which ill-requited bravery grappled with savage fury, 
only to die, and to remember in dying their country and home. 
Here, too, was the spot from which he with his own reverent 
hands helped to gather the whitened remains of the men who 
died that liberty and right might survive, and that they might 
be united in a common sepulchre as in life they had been united 
in a common purpose. 

Here at the base of the ledge forming the northwest ex- 
tremity of the plateau, Mr. Carpenter could designate the spot 
where the largest number of bones were found, and hence the 
inference that the brave and faithful Tusten with his disabled 
followers, there became the objects of a cruelty which must con- 
tinue to blacken the page of history on which it is recorded. 

Here again, at different points along the margin of the little 
pond lying at the foot of the hill, bounding the plateau on the 
south-west, he could point out where the partial skeletons of sev- 
eral bodies were found, as though, amid the fast fading scenes 
of life, the mangled bodies had sought that murky spot in hope 
to allay a dying thirst. 

In estimating the value of such evidence, the favorable ages, 
the abilities, the residences and the general opportunities of the 
gentlemen above named to acquire the information they have 
imparted, all tend to inspire a confidence in their statements. 
One resided 1 1-4, the other 2 1-2 miles from the scene of the 
struggle, and as before stated commenced their residences here 
at an early day. Their arrival at manhood was not remote from 
the date of the conflict and they possessed and unquestionably 
improved the opportunity of talking with many other men who 
lived at the time of the battle, quite probably with some engaged 
in it. 

If additional evidence be deemed useful, I may further state 
that but a very few days ago I met my now aged and much re- 
spected school teacher of early days, Daniel J. Watkins, from 
whom I learned that when an active youth of 14 years he ac- 
companied and assisted the party which done itself immortal 
honor by removing the remnants of the departed heroes from the 
wild mountain where they had so long lain with blasting re- 
proach to their kindred and countrymen. From his vivid mem- 
ory Mr. Watkins points to the same ground designated by the 
Carpenters, and in his description of the ground and rehearsal of 
the incidents connected with the collection and removal of the 
remains, not a single discrepancy appears between the two ac- 
counts of Joseph Carpenter and himself. 

Here we leave the foregoing items of evidence of a positive 
kind with the remark, that if in any sense defective in their pow- 



5. 

er to convince, circumstances largely contribute to their com- 
plete corroboration. 

This ground has heretofore been claimed aa the battle field 
and general acquiescence for sufficient time establishes the claim. 
Two succeeding generations have by common consent looked 
with solemn remembrance towards this wild mountain top as 
the spot whereon their ancestors died to secure the rights we 
now so fully enjoy. 

During the lapse of one hundred years they have repaired 
to this lone plateau to seek and to find some relic of the battle, 
which they might treasure as a souvenir, and for which long 
period of time, nor until the centennial occurred, has any doubt 
been heard as to the locality of the field. Why ? Because no 
basis was known upon which to rest a doubt. Is there any 
such basis now unknown to the people of former years ? None 
whatever. 

We would, however, not wholly overlook the ideas and 
opinions of our aged and much respected friend Sears G. Tuthill, 
Esq., which, since the centennial exercises, have found a some- 
what prominent place in the public prints. According to such 
ideas the battle was fought upon the farm of Mr. H. B. Twichell, 
and the same is sought to be sustained by the statement that in 
1848 he acted as flagman for Mr. S. W. Royce in runm'ng a line 
of survey, commencing at the Lackawaxen road near the Dela- 
ware river, and running thence N. 45 deg. E., and thence N. 45 
deg. W.; and that while he was carrying the flag along the last 
mentioned line " he noticed all along the same, human bones.*' 

Mr. Tuthill gives the names of Jacob Stage and his two 
sons — Albert and George — as assisting members of the survey- 
ing party. 

It is somewhat unfortunate that Esq. TuthiU, in his state- 
ment, omitted to give the length of the line and the extent to 
whi(^ it was strewn with human bones. With such data the 
curious might calculate as to whether or not the men admitted 
to have been killed from the command of Col. Hathorn would 
have been sufficient to supply the demand, and as a correlative 
whether they were probably the bones of white men or Indians. 
The tract of land surveyed by Mr. Royce and referred to by Esq. 
Tuthill, was the same as now in part owned and occupied by 
Mr. Twichell and included a part of the plateau before described. 
It is well known that the line between lots number 16 and 17 in 
the 7th Division of the Minisink Patent runs over the plateau, 
dividing it very nearly into equal parts. In recent conversation 
with Albert Stage, Esq., it is found that he has a distinct re- 
membrance of the survey, and states that when they had passed 
over the plateau and descended the declivity towards the north- 
east, they found at the base of that declivity two bones which 
they judged to be human thigh bones, or femers. 



6. 

That they were for some time preserved in his father's fam- 
ily, but being productive of disagreeable sensations on the part 
of his mother, they were disposed of in a way unknown to him- 
self. The above are all the bones seen or heard of by Mr. ^tage 
during his connection with the survey, though like the flagman 
and others of the party he traveled along the entire line sur- 
veyed. 

Admitting, however, that human remains in scattered frag- 
ments have been discovered at some distance from the ground 
so long and generally claimed as the battle field, does it to any 
extent invalidate the claim ? We think not : for it must be re- 
membered that hard fighting was done by the few there engaged; 
that whites and Indians were killed and wounded; that a most 
disastrous rout took place, and it may be safely imagined that 
many sought safety in different directions, and under the pains of 
fatal wounds laid down to die amid the loneliness of the wilder- 
ness, far away from the cheering voice or soothing hand of wife 
or mother, and where naught but the howl of the hungry wolf 
and the terrific screech of the panther were heard in place of the 
prattle of the babes at home. 

The battle, if such occurred, must have had a locality, and 
despite all speculation the fact remains in force, that no considr 
erable number of human bones have been found elsewhere than 
upon and at the base of this plateau, notwithstanding the many 
searches of the curious and incursions of the woodmen, who have 
through a course of many years traveled over and taken the tim- 
ber from every foot of the surrounding hills. 

Esq. TuthiU fails to give the public the benefit of the infor- 
mation he claims to have acquired from Daniel Myers, except 
tha;t the battle was fought in sight of Lackawaxen; which cannot 
be true, whether fought upon the ground we claim or upon the 
farm of Mr. Twichell as demanded by him. 

Hence we leave this discussion as we commenced it, fully 
confirmed in the belief that we have not mistaken the field. 

■ As a second question, how did the contending parties ap- 
proach and reach thishigh and rocky point ? 

In a portion of mankind there appears a lurking propensity 
to cavil with historical accounts and to antagonize themselves 
with received opinions, and accordingly many discord- 
ant views have recently been advanced upon the question, 
now under consideration. ^ r 

It is not the purpose here to trace the footsteps of the par- 
ties previous to the morning of the 22d July, 1779, the day of 
the battle; for whatever connecting incidents form the subjects 
of discussion, the agreement is settled that during the night of 
the 21st the whites encamped at Hagia Pond and the Indiansr 
at Halfway Brook, where Barryville now stands. Col. Hathom" 
with his infant army came upon the Indian encampment at an 



7. 

early hour of the 22d, and from his observation of that encamp- 
ment discovered two important facts: Ist, that the force of the 
enemy was much superior to his own; and, 2d, that the subtle 
Brant was but little in advance. Facts, indeed, which with the 
previous well-known character of the Chief, should have allowed 
prudent considerations to control instead of rash desires, and 
as a result insured safety and life instead of disaster and death. 

The march of both armies commenced at Barry ville: what 
route was taken by the Indians and what by the Whites in order 
to reach the battle ground ? While it seems to be admitted 
that, the Indian army marched along the New York side of the 
Delaware river, recent opinions assign a number of different 
routes to the Whites. Some have imparted to them a kind of 
amphibious character and fancy them crossing the Delaware 
with the ease and celerity incident to »n otter or muskrat. Some 
maintain that they crossed from the New York to the Pennsyl- 
vania side at one point near Barryville, re-crossed opposite the 
mouth of Dry Brook, there commenced skirmishing with the 
Indians, marched up the valley of that brook followed by the 
foe until the battle ground was reached and a stand there made. 
Others that they crossed at some point not designated, proceed- 
ed up and along the Pennsylvania shore of the river to Lacka- 
waxen, then returned and re-crossed at the pla<;e where 
they first forded the river, being met by the Indians at or near 
the place of re-crossing, and proceeded up the valley of the Dry 
Brook as before stated. 

Such a march would seem to be the result of a somewhat 
strange and liberal conjecture. When we read or hear that 
Daniel Myers and others crossed the Delaware river while fleeing 
in utmost terror from the tomahawk and scalping knife of the 
infuriated savage, &c., wonder is not excited, since a direct im^- 
pelling motive accompanies the act. But when an hundred and 
forty mep, marching in pursuit of a foe, even with imperfect 
arms and accoutrements of war, are by conjecture made to cross, 
and re-cross the Delaware, in the brief space of time allowed, 
and when we vainly search for the motive or the strategic object 
to be gained thereby, we must ask pardon for our hesitancy, to 
unite with such conjecture. , •. 

The formation of a purpose or the conception of aij object,, 
argues in favor of an adoption of the most efficient means for its 
accotnplishment. ■ ; ; 

' Col. Hathorn and his counsellors fully believed that thie 
Indian commander intended to cross the Delaware river with 
his army and plunder at the well known Lackawaxen ford, at or 
nearwhere the aqueduct of the Delaware and Hudson Canal 
'Company'is now located. , . . ..: 

' 'fhat. the belief was well founded, all accounts seem to con- 
cur; for -when' the scouts' of Col. Hathorn .first reajch the ford. 



8. 

part of the advance from Brant's army had actually crossed, 
while others were crossing. 

We learn that the object of Col. Hathorn was to reach the 
ford in advance of the Indians, and thus intercept them in their 
intended crossing. When he left Halfway Brook in the morning, 
Brant was pursuing his march up the river, how far in advance 
■was unknown, and it must evidently have occurred to Col. Hathorn 
that to attain the object sought, his movements must be of the 
most rapid description. It was necessary that he pass the In- 
dian army, and to be observed by them while so doing would 
have been fatal to the purpose. To cross the Delaware and 
march up the Pennsylvania side, would prevent the possibility 
of concealment and hence the inevitable defeat of the plan. Be- 
sides to ford the river at any point between Halfway Brook and 
Lackawaxen, could be done only when the stream was very 16w, 
and even then with difficulty and much delay to the march. 

Was there time for such a course, if the account be accept- 
ed that the Whites bravely struggled upon the battle field 
against the fearful and persistent attacks of the Indians/rom ten 
o'clock in the morning until about sunset ? A question perti- 
nent to those who insist upon the Whites crossing, marching to 
Lackawaxen, returning and re-crossing at the same point. 

With due respect for adverse opinions, consideration of the 
purpose, the means required to effect it, the difficulties which 
the opposite theory involves, together with the want of time 
necessary to sustain it, induces the belief that our feeble though 
valiant army did not cross the Delaware river at all; and under 
the influence of such belief we claim to conduct the brave little 
band to the rock-bound height, once crimsoned by their blood, 
and by a march consistent with the plan their leaders had 
devised. 

The Delaware from Halfway Brook (Barryville) to Lacka- 
waxen is closely confined in its course by two considerable moun- 
tains rising from its opposite shores. 

From Barryville to a distance of about half a mile up the 
river, there is a slope of land extending back from the stream a 
quarter of a mile or more, and over wluch the top of the moun- 
tain can be reached with ease. 

At the terminatioiQ of this slope, the mountain rises abrupt- 
ly from the shore of tfie river, and continues precipitous and 
-high to the outlet of the Beaver Brook. From the mouth of 
this brook and to the distance of a half or three-quarters of a 
mile, a flat extends back some distance from the river, and be- 
jrond this is a slope of ascending ground, somewhat similar to 
that at Barryville. Down this slope and through the flat land 
before mentioned, the little Dry Brook passes, until its waters 
mingle with those of the Delaware; or so did in the days when 
^savage men marched along the shores of the clear Delaware; 



9. 



since when, however, the water of this and many other small 
streams, empty into the Delaware and Hudson Canal, construct- 
ed along the river. 

_ Now, when Col. Hathorn left Halfway Brook in the morn- 
ing with intent to out-march the Indian warriors and reach the 
Lackawaxen ford in advance of him, and well knowing that the 
artful Chief was marching along the river shore, it would seem 
quite natural that a route over the mountain would have sug- 
gested Itself, most readily and favorably, to his mind. Passing 
U5 the easy slope at Halfway Brook to the mountain top, he 
might march to Beaver Brook and the Dry Brook valley secure 
thTrbtlTetr^'^" ^ the Indians and free from the danger of 

If te did so march, we think it will occur to any person, 
SnTand TuV^r ^'"'^/^ '^' '^' ^^""^^^ ' '^^' ^^e form^of the 
S th All ^'"? ^°^^^ ?^^?^""y ^°°^^^t him, in his route, 

M?1^k' 7^ ""^^l!^ ^^ *h' ^^"^^ fi^ld' or to its near vicinity! 
Pmin^i ^'""^ ""''i"^ '^}^^^ ^* ^ ^^^^^i° point, and from the 
eminence he occupied, -discover the Indians leisurely advancino- 

^n?^' and wh^ 1 '^' '^T ^bout three-quarters of I mile di?- 

^d to^h^ To^r '^?f '?? °^'' ^^' «^^P^ ^^ th« Beaver Brook, 
and to the valley of the Dry Brook, "the two armies" would 

frZ h±i'' l" "°^'' '' ^^^^ ^^^^^'" -^ '' -ems indeedT that 
from historical accounts entitled to credit that nothing further 

A« f hi ^^^h<^7 « arpy, and between the two portions of it. 
v^r Brnnl .-t ^^i^i ^^'^^f ""^'^ P^'^^^g ^^^^ the slope at Bea- 
hv TnZn'- .'^'^'t^f seem that the crafty Mohawk discovered, or 
^ursl and H '''' ^^^^"^d that they were upon the hills and' in 
fhp X ' u ^^''",VP^" ^'^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ «ho^e^ "^arched hastily up 
fe:?;i;fS:n ,?"%"°^^ ^: ^^-^h^d the 'spot, upon which the 
lew brave men were forced to mortal combat, and half their 

tThteX^ W ^^ '"" ''' ''''' '' ''''''' ''' ^--' -^ 

Whites w?s aV^"^""^'^ ^f" ^^^V^^ °^^^«h claimed for the 
Z^Ia^ V """^^^^ ^"^- T^"*^ it was; but it was per- 

nauTht b^'rf f ^r °' ^^' ^'V^''' ^^°^^« ^'^^ ^ Purpose wEich 
Son of the tlsf^'^f "''" '"."i^ accomplish, with contempla- 
♦l \ 7^^^«^^and ammated by a spirit not to be quelled bv 
the Wships which three miles' of mountainous journey pre- 

wildefn^rfn ""a "'"'' ""^^ •^^^. ^^'^^^y "^^'•^^^^ «o ^a'- through a 
WHO would brave the wiles and ferocious propensities of such a 
horde were not to allow their march to be obstructed by the 
impediments which only these hills interposed. A contrary pre! 
fiumption would be derogatory to their fame ^ ^ 

buch seems to be the unquestionable line of march takeu 



10. 

by the two armies, and the one sustained by the dim light which 
history throws around it. 

Whether the whites were brought to a stand immediately, 
upon the Indians appearing in their rear, and then compelled to- 
commence the conflict, or whether they, in the first instance, 
passed the battle field, proceeded to the river at Lackawaxen 
and by some manner returned and completed the bloody strug^ 
gle upon the plateau, is a point upon which it seems somewhat 
difficult to reconcile the statements of history. 

The belief is, and has been entertained, that the former the- 
ory is correct and that the belligerents <lid not reach the river 
previous to the battle. 

To this, however, doubts may be interposed, and to some' 
extent sustained by the report of Col. Hathorn, which has re^ 
cently appeared in one of the public prints. We quote from the- 
report, as we find, viz : 

" The Indians probably from some discovery they hadmadfe 
of us, marched with more alacrity than usual, with an intention 
to get their prisoners, cattle and plunder taken at Minisink, over 
the river. They had almost effected getting their cattle and 
baggage across, when we discovered thera at Lackawack, 2T 
miles from Minisink, some Indians in the river and some had 
got over. * <f if # <f o * i> * 

I soon perceived the enemy rallying on our right and re- 
crossing the river to gain the heights. I found myself under 
the necessity to rally all my force, which by this time was much 
less than I expected. The enemy by this time had collected in force,^ 
and from the best accounts that can be collected, they received 
a reinforcement from Kethethton, began to fire on our left. We 
returned the fire, and kept up a constant bush firing up the hill 
from the river, in which the brave Capt. Tyler fell. Several 
were wounded. The people being exceedingly fatigued obliged 
me to take post on a height, which proved to be a strong and 
advantageous ground." 

Again, from " Stone's Life of Brant," as we now remember^ 
not having a copy at hand, we quote as follows, viz., after stat- 
ing the death of Capt. Tyler, he says : 

' ' This circumstance occasioned considerable alarm ; but 
the volunteers, nevertheless, pressed eagerly forward and it was- 
not long before they emerged upon the hills of the Delaware, in- 
full view of that river, upon the eastern banks of which, at the 
distance of three-fourths of a mile, the Indians were seen delib- 
erately marching in the direction of a fording place near the 
mouth of the Lackawaxen. This discovery was made at about 
9 o'clock in the morning. The intention of Brant to cross at, 
the fording place was evident; and it was afterwards ascertained 
that his booty had already been sent thither in advance. 

The determination was immediately formed by Col. Hath- 



11. 

ovn to intercept the enemy at the fording place, for which pur- 
pose instant dispositions were made. But owing to intervening 
-woods and hills the opposing bodies soon lost sight of each oth- 
er, and an adroit movement on the part of Brant gave him an 
advantage which it was impossible for the Americans to regain. 
Anticipating the design of Hathorn, the moment the Americans 
were out of sight, Brant wheeled to the right, and by threading 
a ravine across which Hathorn had passed, threw himself into 
liis rear, by which means he was enabled deliberately to select 
his ground for a battle, and form an ambuscade. 

Disappointed at not finding the enemy, the Americans were 
brought to a stand, when the enemy disclosed himself partially 
in a quarter altogether unexpected. 

The first shot was fired upon an Indian, who, as the Amer- 
icans came to the bank of the river, was crossing the Delaware 
with a portion of the booty, and who was mounted on a horse 
which had been taken from a farmer of Minisink. * * ^ *•■ 

The belligerents soon engaged in deadly conflict, when 
above the whooping and yelling of the savages, the hurrahs of 
the whites, and the reports of the fire-arras, Brant was heard in a 
voice which was never forgotten by those present, commanding 
all who were on the opposite side of the river with the plunder, 
to return. They at once dashed into the river, and soon fell up- 
on the rear of the Americans who were thus completely sur- 
rounded and hemmed in, except about one-third of their num- 
ber, whom Brant in the early part of the engagement had man- 
aged to cut off from the main body. The enemy was several 
times greater in number than the militia, who were ultimately 
driven in and confined to about an acre of ground." 

From the above quotation it would seem that the armies 
reached the river and commenced the battle upon its bank. 
Yet it seems possible to glean from another source matter by 
which the opposite theory is sustained. 

Rev. J. B. Wilson, D. D., delivered the address at the in- 
terment of the bones of the heroes of the battle, on the 22d of 
July, 1822. From that address the following information appears: 

" Capt. Tyler, who had some knowledge of the woods, was 
.sent forward at the head of a small scouting party, to reconnoi- 
tre the movements of the enemy and give notice of the best 
ground for attacking him ; but he had not advanced far before 
he was killed — a circumstance which created considerable alarm. 
As our troops were marching on the hills east of the Delaware 
^bout nine in the morning, they discovered the Indians advanc- 
ing leisurely along the bank of the river, about three-quarters of 
.a mile distant. 

Brant had sent forward the plunder, under an escort, to a 
fording place of the Delaware, near the mouth of the Lackawax- 
en where he intended to cross the river. 



12. 

Col. Hathorn wished to intercept him hefore lie reached the 
fording place. Owing to interveninoj woods and hills, the twa 
armies lost sight of each other, and Brant, instead of advancing 
along the bank of the Delaware , wheeled to the right and passed 
up a deep ravine, over which our troops had marched, and thus 
crossing our line of march, showed himself in our rear, about tea 
o'clock. By this skillful maneuver he not only took us by sur- 
prise, but chose his own ground for commencing the attack. 
Col. Hathorn, as his men were illy supplied with ammunition, 
issued an order like that of Gen. Putnam at Bunker Hill, not 
to fire a single shot until the enemy were near enough to make 
it take effect. Just at that moment an Indian was seen riding a 
horse which had been stolen from Minisink on the 20th, and was 
known to one of our men who instantly fired on him and killed 
him. The fire soon became general. * » • » o 

Soon after the commencement of the battle, they were com- 
pletely surrounded by the savages on the summit of a hill de- 
scending on all sides, and the ground which they occupied among 
the rocks and bushes was about the extent of an acre, ■which 
they maintained in an obstinate conflict, from between ten and 
eleven in the morning until late in the afternoon," 

With this account, the " History of Sullivan County," 
written by James E. Quinlan, coincides in its general state- 
ments ; and from ■which it quite clearly appears that the battle 
was commenced, fought and disastrously terminated, upon the 
battle field or plateau before described, Not deeming the ques- 
tion of sufiicient importance in this connection to invite a labored 
argument, we submit the accounts to others who may entertain 
a desire for the exercise. We have no disposition, however, to 
conceal a decided preference for the inferences to be derived from 
the statement of Doctor Wilson. He was a minister of the gos- 
pel in good repute and a gentleman of abilities, natural and ac- 
quired. Being selected to fill the distinguished position he did 
on that memorable occasion, it is proper to suppose that he pre- 
pared his statements with care and assiduity. In his address he 
gives a brief history of the march and battle; and that he deliv- 
ered such momentous matters to his large auditory from conjec- 
ture or doubtful information, would be unfair in the belief, — and 
that he was surrounded by favorable opportunities and ample 
means for the collection of information, none will deny. At the 
date of his address but 43 years had passed since the sad occur- 
rence to which he referred, and the accounts from the survivors 
themselves must have been yet fresh in the minds of the many to 
whom they were often delivered. Col. Hathorn too was present 
on the occasion and the idea would be diflScult, that Dr. Wilson 
proceeded amid any doubt in regard to his historical statements,, 
with a source of information so accessible and so valuableas the- 
venerable commander of the battle, presented. 



13. 



ACCOUJ^T OF THE CELEBRATION AJ^B 
ITS OUGAmZATIOK, 



B"'5r -A.IjBEItX STA-O-E, ES<a. 



The Centennial of the Minisink Battle, July 22, 1879, be- 
ing fast approaching, the propriety of observing that centennial 
in a suitable manner upon the actual battle field, had been dis- 
cussed in private circles and set forth in short communications 
to several of the leading newspapers printed in the counties of 
Sullivan and Orange. Pertinent editorials had successively 
appeared in several papers and especially in the Port Jervis 
Gazette J all recommending that the occasion be so observed; but 
though much had been proposed in different forms, the most 
practical, as well as the most usual steps for the accomplishment 
of like objects, were taken in this instance by John J. Hickok 
of Barryville, by arranging for a public meeting at Lacka waxen, 
Pa., on Saturday the 14th of June, 1879. 

The meeting convened under this call, was composed of 
Mr. Hickok, H. E. Twichell, Hon. Wm. Westfall and less than 
a half dozen others. By reason of the meagre attendance, the 
few present and interested in the object of the meeting took no ac- 
tion further than to adjourn the meeting to Wednesday evening, 
the 18th of June, at the same hour and place. The adjourned 
meeting was alike barren of results — no organization or move- 
ment being initiated, and therefore no further meeting was held 
at that place. 

Without any preconcerted arrangement, on the motion of Al- 
bert Stage and J. V. Morrison, a meeting was held in the Court 
House at Monticello, after the hours of Court then in session, and 
upon the same evening of the adjourned meeting at Lackawaxen. 

J. V. Morrison of Wurtsboro, was elected Chairman and 
W. W. Smith of Woodbourne, Secretary. Addresses were made 
by Hon. A. C. Butts, Wm. L. Thornton and others, and a reso- 
lution passed to celebrate the centennial of the battle upon the 
field thereof, by appropriate ceremonies. A committee styled a. 



14. 

County Committee, consisting of County Judi^e W. L. Thorn- 
ton, District Attorney J. F. Anderson and W. W. Smith, Esq., 
with Albert Stage as corresponding Secretary, was appointed, 
and by resolution the Supervisors of the sereral towns of the 
County of Sullivan were constituted local committees to call 
meetings and take such other action as might tend to awaken 
an interest in, and facilitate the proposed object. 

The Board of Supervisors being convened at the Court 
House in Monticello the following week, Albert Stage, the Cor- 
responding Secretary as stated, sought further to commit all 
parts of the County of Sullivan to a celebration on this most 
classic and historic spot, within her borders; but the Board de- 
clined to do or recommend anything whatever promotive of the 
contemplated object. 

The County Committee having done nothing, and the 
Supervisors as a board and as individuals, having declined as 
stated, Mr. Stage made arrangements for calling a joint County 
meeting at Port Jervis on Friday evening of the same week. 
No action at this meeting gave promise of better results than 
others before it. 

Convinced that further efforts to interest remoter commu- 
nities, or to unite the counties of Sullivan and Orange in organ- 
ized efforts to effect a proper observance of the centennial day so 
near at hand, and that it would pass unobserved into the abyss 
of time, unless resolute steps were immediately taken by leading 
and influential persons, dwelling in the near vicinity of the his- 
toric ground, he called upon J. W. Johnston, Esq., of Barryville, 
stated his previous proceedings, the failure of every efibrt, pre- 
sented his views of the situation and the necessities, and sug- 
gested that immediate notice be circulated for a meeting of the 
people of Barryville and vicinity to consider the matter of cele- 
brating the approaching Centennial of the Minisink Battle, and 
to be held at the close of the public temperance meeting ap- 
pointed for the following evening, July 2d, Mr. Johnston enter- 
taining like conviction with Mr. Stage, and that every sentiment 
of patriotism, as well as a grateful remembrance of those whose 
names and deeds we should ever cherish, demanded at the hands 
of this people some commemoratire act after the lapse of a cen- 
tury, united in calling the meeting proposed. 

Like others held for the same purpose, its attendance was 
meagre ; but in all other respects, and especially in point of in- 
terest, it happily and vastly exceeded all previous assemblies. 
Albert Stage, Esq., was chosen Chairman and Ira M. Austin 
Secretary. 

The brevity of time remaining, the prevailing lack of inter- 
est manifested in all previous eflforts, largely conduced to dis- 
courage the present meeting from assuming the responsibility in- 



15. 

volved in an undertaking to provide a celebration, or to as- 
sume its control. 

Proper sentiments were, however, impressed upon the minds 
of the members by appropriate and stirring remarks made by the 
Chairman, by J. W. Johnston and others, and a motion was 
unanimously carried that a committee of seven be appointed by 
the Chair to provide for and arrange for a celebration, and that 
the committee so to be appointed have power to add to its number 
as should afterward be deemed advisable or necessary. The 
Chairman appointed as such committee: J. W. Johnston, A. 
C. Miller, S. St. J. Gardner, Ira M. Austin, J. J. Hickok— all 
of Barryville ; Able S. Myers, of Eldred, and Horace E. Twich- 
ell, of Lackawaxen, to which committee the Chairman, Albert 
Stage, was added, on motion. The committee subsequently 
added to its number Wm. L. Thornton, of Monticello, James ]. 
Curtis, of Callicoon, and EUery ,T. Calkins, of Cochecton, all of 
Sullivan county, and J. H. Reeve and C. D. Wood, of Slate 
Hill, B. F. Van Fleet and Dr. Sol. Van Etten, of Port Jervis, 
all of Orange county ; but from none of whom except Ellery T. 
Calkins was any aid or services received — not even an encourag- 
ing word or kindly notice at any time heard or manifested. 

A meeting of the committee was held the following evening 
and plans devised for prosecuting the work contemplated by 
their appointment. A celebration was to be arranged, and in 
accordance with the well-known wishes of the public, it was de- 
termined to erect a monument, and to perform all in a manner 
that would do honor to the memory of those whose names and 
deeds it was desired to perpetuate, and that would prove credit- 
able to all who should in any form contribute to its accomplish- 
ment. The surroundings of the committee, at this juncture, 
were far from being cheerful. They had raised no funds for the 
purpose ; the time in which to complete the work was reduced 
to nineteen days only ; the weather was extremely warm ; the 
route to the ground was rugged and steep ; the labor of convey- 
ing the needed material to it was onerous indeed, and all this, 
together with the utter lack of spirit displayed by the people in 
every quarter, combined to cast disagreeable doubts around their 
ultimate success, and to produce a positive conviction that its 
achievement depended wholly upon indomitable perseverence, 
attended by hardship and toil. The period, however, for con- 
sistent doubt or speculation had actually passed, and they had 
now only to prosecute the work proposed ; and in so doins: to 
remember that multitudes, perhaps, anticipated visiting, for the 
first time, a lone spot hitherto unmarked save by the low and 
imperfect breastwork hastily thrown up on the morning of the 
battle, traces of which yet appear. Materials were procured 
and drawn up the heavy hills, roads constructed and others re- 
paired, the proposed monument erected, a platform, seats and 



16. 

shade prepared ; and when the day arrived, fortunately one of 
the most beautiful of the season, not less than 2,500 people 
found their way, far up on the hills of Highland, to celebrate 
the first Centennial of one of the most sanguinary conflicts re- 
corded in our country's history — upon the very soil with which 
the life-blood of four and forty true men and patriots was mingled. 

J. W. Johnston, Esq., acted as President of the day ; the 
Hon. William J. Groo, of Middletown, as Orator, and the Erie 
Cornet Band, of Port jervis, were present, accoiding to previ- 
ous engagement. 

The introductory address by the President of the day, the 
prayer by Rev. J. B. Williams, of White Lake, the oration, the 
speeches by Judge Butts, of Monticello, Hon. George H. Rowland, 
of Rowlands, Pa., Hon. Thomas J. Lyon, of Port Jervis, the 
Poem by Ezra T. Calkins, of Cochecton, as the same are here- 
with published, severally speak their own sentiments. 

The associations connected with the spot, the event com- 
memorated, the sentiments sent forth from the stand of the 
speakers, the novel scene presented by a monument upon that 
wild mountain peak, the first sound of a cannon issued and re- 
verberating from these hills, the exhilerating strains of mu- 
sic now heard, where once was sorrow and dying groans, and 
such a throng of people in that unbroken wild, all conspired to 
a proper appreciation of the occasion, and to connect it insep- 
arably with the memory of all who in any manner shared in it. 

How far and how well the committee succeeded in discharg- 
ing the duties intrusted to it, is cheerfully and confidently sub- 
mitted to the decision of a generous public to whom that decis- 
ion most jjroperly belongs. Certain it is, however, that its own 
most sanguine expectations were more than realized. 

The absence of inebriety, go frequently fatal to the peace 
and order of public assemblies, was especially gratifying, not on- 
ly to the committee who had most cautiously and sedulously 
guarded against its appearance upon the ground, but to all well- 
disposed citizens as well ; and it certainly should be accepted 
as an encouraging sign to all those who regard the final triumph 
of the temperance cause as of paramount importance to our 
country and mankind. Much credit is due to the many who 
composed that assembly, since, among all, not a single element 
of any description appeared to conflict with the peace and or- 
derly conduct of the proceedings. One and all seemed to enter 
the ground with a single purpose in view — to commemorate the 
sacrifices which that rocky mount had witnessed a century be- 
fore, and by which it had become linked with their sweetest 
memories. The opportunities provided and made subservient to 
such purpose were properly improved, and it is highly gratifying 
to know that general satisfaction was given, and to believe that 
none left with expectations disappointed. 




.:n:iililir^^li!piiltillillllililW'IIW*'"' 
JIJHllllfllil^llOu.iInMmiLitiiiiiiiiiiiiilJiB^ 



"iilifniMiiiiiiiJii™!, 



_,._.. .llilililllllllil 

^li^llillliili 



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ilMll!lli'il:llliMiiiii;iiii!i^;':iii|ii!ili;iilliiiriiii!WjiHM 




MONUMENT ON THE BATTLE-FIELD. 



17. 



A. A plateau very nearly. 

B. Hill about 30 feet high, mostly capped by broken rock. 

C. Irregular ledge of rock, rising from the level about 18 
feet to the plateau. 

D. Small pond lying at the foot of the hill, and of late 
years is full of water only during wet seasons. 

E. Nearly a soHd ledge of rock, extending from the turn 
to the foot of the hill G. 

F. A table of land extending from foot of ledge, about 12 
feet wide, and where it is quite certain Col. Tusten and the 17 
wounded met their sad fate. 

G. A hill ascending from the plateau towards the north 
and curving as shown, at the easterly extremity. 



The monument is composed of stones gathered from the 
battle field, excepting the two flag-stones which cap the different 
sections, and the boulder which forms the crown. All these 
were obtained from Capt. L. F. Johnston at the mouth of 
Beaver Brook, and by his procurement drawn first to Lacka- 
waxen and thence up the acclivity to the battle field. The flag- 
stones are each five inches thick, the one 5 1-2 and the other 4 
feet square. The boulder is of white sand stone and weighs 
about 1500 pounds. 

In the center of the lower section of the monument, and 
directly beneath the large flag-stone, was placed a black walnut 
box which was brought from the southern States by Abel S. 
Myers, Esq., upon his return from the late war, and whose 
grandfather was a brother of the Daniel Myers who acted such a 
prominent part in the Minisink battle. 

In the box is a paper containing the names of the Committee 
of Arrangements and others interested and assisting in the 
erection of the monument. 



The prayer and the several speeches delivered on th3 ccci- 
sion are hereafter given in the order of their delivery. 



18. 



INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS, 



^^ 9 



I>I?.ESII>EISTT OF OTiaiE ID-A-^Z-- 



Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens and Fkiends : 

Occasions happen in the progress of life, wherein the want 
of oratorial powers are sadly lamented. None in the course of 
my own life has caused that lamentation to arise with greater 
force than the present. 

Any words at my command can but feebly indicate the de- 
light experienced in meeting this assemblage of men, women 
and children, from hoary age to lisping _ infancy, of the different 
professions, trades and occupations of life ; and all in numbers 
so gratifying, here upon this historic ground — on this Cen- 
tennial day, and for the purpose thus assembled. 

The circumstances attending your journey hither pre- 
clude the presumption that mere curiosity has controlled 
jour steps, while they, indeed, sufficiently attest that the 
worthy deeds, the sufferings and deaths, which have so inti- 
mately connected this romantic spot with our American history, 
are indelibly written upon the tablets of your memory. 

Reverence for the actors and enduring remembrance of val- 
iant deeds, incited by love of country and the eternal principles 
of justice and right, are prominent characteristics of the Ameri- 
can race ; and obedient to its dictates you have, one and all, 
entered upon this wild mountain height to-day to do 
honor to the memory of a few brave men, who here engaged 
in dread conflict with the savage foe — fought, bled, suffered and 
died for their country and homes — alike for you and I. 

Thus may it ever be. While history shall survive the 
wreck of time, and while memory shall hold a seat within the 
human brain, so long may the virtues of those who have lived 
for others as for themselves — forsaken personal comforts and the 



19. 

dearest relations of life, and amid the awful scenes of war, bled 
and died that others might live in the nobler enjoyment of civil 
and religious liberty, ever find a lodgment secure in the affec- 
tions and memories of their countless and succeeding genera- 
tions. 

Yes, my friends, for us in life no more appropriate oflSce 
remains than to assemble here on this eventful day in solemn 
commemoration of the deaths and agonies of those whose loyal 
blood once crimsoned this mountain summit^ and which the 
summer suns and winter storms of an hundred years have but 
served to bleach away. Bleached, indeed, from the surface of 
these rocks and barren grounds — bleached from the bodies it 
once warmed and animated — bleached as were the bones after 
43 years exposure here ; but its impressions never, and never to> 
he bleached or obliterated from the hearts and memories of a 
grateful posterity, whereon it has been stamped by a hand Di- 
vine. 

As we shall this day recur to the mournful and appalling 
scene once enacted here, and which might well nigh cause the 
trees upon these hills to murmur forth a sadness, let us one and 
all profit by the reflections it must necessarily induce, to the 
end that a proper love for our native land, a becoming pride in 
its history, an enduring gratitude for its prosperous and united 
condition, and an acknowledged necessity for a constant fidelity 
to its institutions be re-vivified within us. 

In behalf of the committee of arrangements, which I now^ 
have the honor to represent, I most cheerfully extend to you the 
warm hand and kindly voice of welcome to this ground, which 
has drank some of the best blood of our revolutionary days; and 
in so doing, surrounding circumstances seem to demand a brief 
statement of the means by which these proceedings have been in- 
augurated and thus far conducted to a conclusion. 

Upon a cursory view of the surroundings now, you will 
probably conclude that the time apportioned to these prepara- 
tory arrangements was unequal to the requirement, and herein 
your judgment will not be at fault 

The consent to engage in such an undertaking was preceded 
by much hesitation ; and this, reprehensible as it may appear, 
is hardly matter of astonishment when a little critically exam- 
ined. 

In our sister county of Orange, and over the meagre rem- 
nants of the slain there entombed, a commemorative service of 
large proportions was timely organized, with an ample amount 
of money first secured as the essential moving power ; and hence 
the doubt as to whether any considerable number of people would 
extend a kindly notice to any such lesser movement as we seem- 
ed empowered to introduce. 

Again, it is not to be presumed that we, or any equal num- 



20. 

ber, would engage in such a task irrespective of the truly her- 
culean character it undoubtedly possessed. 

It is not fair to conclude that we were wholly lost to the 
love of comfort and ease — a love so common to the human kind, 
or quite insensible to the rigor with which this July sun was day 
by day pouring his heated rays upon the earth, with no rational 
hope that it would be relaxed, even from patriotic considera- 
tions, much less for any accommodation of ours. 

Neither is it safe to believe that we, so much accustomed to 
the ruggedness of the country, and so familiar with the lay of 
the land, would fail to consider the elevated position of this clas- 
sic ground and the difference df level between it and the Dela- 
ware river, or that we would view with indifference the sweat to 
be lost, the toil to be endured, the vexations to be met, together 
with the fearful tax upon the mental and physical powers requi- 
site to safely maintain the energy necessary to surmount the im- 
pediments which, without delicacy or concealment, threatened 
us with deadly opposition. 

Justice to this account demands that the apathy of the peo- 
ple be enumerated among the chief signs of discouragement, with 
the utter indifference of some and the actual opposition of oth- 
ers — obstructing elements ever to be found menacing to public 
spirit and enterprise. 

When to all this, and vastly more untold, the rnost de- 
pressing fact of all be added : that we were wholly destitute of 
the needful, the sinew of business, the all-powerful lever which 
stirs mankind, that we had not the leading dollar or dime treas- 
ured for the purpose, nor yet an incipient idea whence the first 
red cent would come, shall the hesitancy before admitted be 
denied all sympathy and justification ? If so, and if the same 
must be imputed for guilt, then, leaving others to seek their own 
salvation, and speaking only for ourselves, while we are not pre- 
pared to acknowledge ourselves as the chief of sinners, yet that 
we were tainted by original sin is undoubtedly true ; and our 
only hope lies in the sincere repentance we have adopted, espec- 
ially since meeting this large and very respectable assembly here, 
in whose every countenance we trace a love of civil liberty and 
the fires of patriotism vividly burning. 

In the Divine order of things some one person seems to be 
adapted and especially designed for particular purposes. 

If any value whatever attaches to the celebration here to- 
day, the credit thereof is, in a very large degree, due to Brother 
Sta^e of our committee. Chiefly at his suggestion and by his 
efforts the springs of action were first set in operation. With a 
view to remove that most hateful lethargy subsisting, and to sub- 
stitute for it a spirit that would excite to public action, meet- 
ino-s were appointed and held at several times and places — Lack- 
awaxen Port Jervis, Monticello, &c. ; and herein it was very 



21. 

properly sought to unite the counties of Sullivan and Orange in 
a common efifort to commemorate an event alike interestinc to 
l)oth, or, if not successful, then to engage the county of S'ulHvan 
in action through the influence of its several supervisors or oth- 
erwise. All such efforts, however, proved abortive, and no prog- 
ress was made until he came to his own, in the little village of 
Barryville lying in yonder valley ; and with earnest appeals to 
the national pride and sensibilities of its citizens, asking them 
indeed if it would not be a shame should the people residing in 
the immediate vicinity of this battle field permit the Centennial 
to pass without some action to revive and perpetuate a memory 
of the scenes which rendered it dear to us all. 

When asked with the same degree of energy to unite with 
him in calling a meeting of the people to ascertain what could 
be done, who could but yield to the appeal, and what spirit so 
dormant as to refuse a request so much in accord with every 
sentiment of patriotism and respect for the history of our 
country .? 

That meeting was held, and though not imposing in num- 
bers, the liberal representation of ladies— always the advocates 
of good— and the rightful public spirit manifested within it, 
proved effectual in procuring the appointment of a committee 
tor this occasion. 

We accepted the trust, not without realizing in part that 
hard labor only could discharge it ; yet from that time onward 
fully resolving, individually and collectively, that we .would, in 
some measure at least, manifest our gratitude for the toils and 
the pains, the sacrifices and the blood endured and shed for the 
liberties of man. We have discharged it as best we could, and 
the results are now before you. 

When first organized we purposed nothing more, indeed, 
than to announce a celebration to the public, prepare a means 
of access to the ground, leaving those who might choose to re- 
sort hither to do so in their own way, and to proceed informally, 
either for a free sociable or whatever the occasion or the mo- 
ment might suggest. - > 

Almost immediately, however, an orator was demanded, 
then a band of music, and so very rapidly did the ideas and as- 
pirations of the people expand that it has actually required the 
presence of the Hon. Wm. J. Groo and the Erie Cornet Band of 
Port Jervis to satisfy their intellectual and musical tHstes, as 
you will see. 

But what most essentially frustrated our hopes for compar- 
ative ease was the early clamor for an erection of something to 
mark the locality of the battle, for the use of other people, at 
other times, when our bodies shall have crumbled and gone the 
way of those whose deaths we now commemorate. 

What should it be ? 



22. 

Here was a lonely mountain height, forbidding cultivation 
'or settlement, wild, indeed, as on the day when the haughty 
Mohawk Chief first led his predatory band over its surface, vis- 
ited by forest fires at frequent intervals, and wholly destitute of 
the watchful jeye or the protecting hand. To erect here a pol- 
ished shaft of marble or granite was wholly impracticable by 
reason of inadequacy of time and means ; and it was thought 
by many, the members of the committee included, that such a 
structure would be quite unsuited to the place, the surround- 
ings and the objects to be secured. 

Consequently, we have erected what you see yonder — a 
plain, inornate work, domestic in its every feature, durable in its 
•construction and typical, we think, of the hardy, frugal, indus- 
trious and honest lives of the valiant men whose blood conse- 
crated the spot where it stands. 

Such as it is, together with our other humble preparations, 
we kindly present to your several uses to-day, and again ex- 
jpressing our unalloyed satisfaction in meeting you on this mem- 
orable ground, permit us to hope that your enjoyment may be 
perfect, and that no event may happen to frustrate any hope or 
disappoint any expectations you may have entertained in com- 
ing here. 

May we ask you, one and all, to unite with us in the hope 
that our modest structure may indefinitely remain the property 
of the public, and serve as a beacon light to those who in the far 
•distant future may seek this battle ground— here tojoin in solemn 
meditation over the value, to them, of a country and a govern- 
ment purchased by patriot blood. 

We shall not ask in vain to-day that you join us in the hope 
that such assemblages shall convene under the segis of the Con- 
stitution which now spreads its grateful shadows over us, under 
a like form of government, with institutions ennobled and im- 
proved by the constantly increasing intelligence and virtue of 
the times. 

And now, as the gentle western breezes unfurls yonder 
chaste, proud ensign of Republican Sovereignty, we confide in 
you to hope with us that it will ever float over a land and a peo- 
ple that are free, and that all the myriads which shall yet arise 
trom the bosom of coming centuries will own a noble and virtu- 
ous pride in the protection it secures. 



23. 



BV 
■ da 3a 

OP 

WHITE LAKE, SULLIVAN COUNTY, N. T: 



Lord of hosts ! we desire to worship Thee on this moun- 
tain. Thou art a great King and all people should be silent 
before Thee. It befits us to adore Thee this day of commemo- 
ration of departed heroes, while we lift up our hearts to th& 
God of our fathers in the midst of these woods and rocks, and 
templed hills, which are themselves the proof of the presence^ 
and power, and majesty of our God. 

We thank Thy great name, our Father in heaven, that wa 
have come to this Centennial day, made memorable by the great 
sufferings of our forefathers, endured to found for us this free- 
Kepublic. 

We thank Thee that we are not bowing down under the 
rod of the oppressor, and that this nation is still the asylum for 
the oppressed of all lands. May grateful emotions spring up in 
our hearts in connection with these public observances, that in- 
stead of the alarm of war we have the kindly salutations of peace; 
that instead of the groans of the dying, on this once gory field 
of battle, we have the strains of music and the pleasure of social 
conversation, in a land where concord and prosperity prevail 
throughout all our borders. 

Most merciful Father ! Thou dost remind us of the horrors 
of war, the sufferings of patriots, the tears of widows and or- 
phans, and the desolation of homes to which loved ones never re- 
turned, while their bones for long years lay unburied on these 
lonely heights; yet we bow before Thine august throne with 
humble submission to all Thy royal arrangements, and magnify- 
that infinite wisdom which overruled the disasters of war for the 
glory of thy great name and the welfare of the whole nation, to 
the end that posterity might learn to value their blood-bought 



24. 

privileges. Great God ! we thank Thee that Thou didst hear 
their prayers, Thou didst see their tears, and Thou didst regard 
their sufferings. Grant in Thine infinite goodness that if ever 
the dearest interests of civil and religious liberty may be im- 
periled that the sons of our country may be always ready and 
■willing to make the needful sacrifice of life, it may be, in imi- 
tation of those illustrious ancestors who died for their home, 
their country and their religion. 

We confess that we are less than the least of Thy mercies, 
yet what astonishing goodness passes before our eyes, as we 
review the mercies of the last hundred years towards our nation. 
We have gone through great adversities and lamentable wars, 
and remain still a happy, united and prosperous people. Out of 
many nations Thou hast founded one great nationality where 
Christian instituti- as flourish. 

May the Sabbath long be observed among us, and Sabbath 
instruction be given to the youth of the land with increasing^ 
success, and may education and virtue improve their minds. 
May profanity and immorality cease; may temperance prevail 
and righteousness become the stability of the times. Send, we 
pray Thee, national prosperity. 

Bless, Lord ! all ranks and classes of society. Bless the 
President of the United States and give him wisdom to guide 
the difficult affairs of State. Bless the members of Congress; 
may they be good men and rule in the fear of God. 

Bless aged fathers, mothers and the children present. May 
the next generation see better days than ever their fathers saw, 
the nation increasing in virtue, morality and religion until it 
shall become the glory of all lands. 

Be pleased, our Father in heaven, to guide the tongues of 
the speakers that they may utter words advisedly, that our 
hearts may be strengthened for every good purpose, and may 
gratitude fill every soul. 

We remember this day that our lives are short and uncer- 
tain — " our fathers, where are they ?" When we, too, shall 
pass away and sleep with all the mighty dead, may our latter 
end be peace and our final gathering be with the blood-bought 
throng in heaven above. And to Thy blessed name, through 
Christ Jesus, be all the praise, world without end. Amen. 



25. 



BT 

MQH. WM. J. ©l.©0 

OP 

MIDDLETOWN, ORANGE COUNTY, N 7. 



Fellow Citizens: One hundred years ago to-day, on the 
• spot where we are assembled, now in the town of Highland, 
Sullivan County, N. Y., forty-five brave men gave up their lives 
at the call of duty, and for the protection of their homes. If it 
be true as some beheve that the spirits of the departed are 
conscious of the conduct of the living, we may well suppose that 
all who were present on that ever memorable day, are now wit- 
nessing with the deepest interest, our proceedings. May this 
thought inspire us to the utterance of such words as shall fitly 
commemorate their deeds. 

We are not here simply to express our admiration of the 
men who were killed in the battle of Minisink, but of all who 
fought in that engagement. Death has now overtaken them all, 
and we must remember and recognize the fact, that he who sur- 
vives the performance of a great duty, ought to be awarded equal 
praise with him who loses his life before the contest is ended. 

A,s we recur to the battle of Minisink, three names at once 
occur to our minds as the most prominent actors in that sanguin- 
ary contest, viz: Cols. Tusten, Hathorn and Brandt. 

The record of this day's proceedings would not be complete 
without more than a passing notice of these commanders. 

Col. Benjamin Tusten was born on Long Island in 1743, and 
consequently was thirty-six years old at the time of the battle. 
His father moved into Orange County when the son was but 
three years old, and settled about three miles from the village 
of Goshen. Young Tusten after a thorough academic education, 
.studied medicine and became a prominent and successful physi- 
cian and surgeon. He continued the practice of his profession, 
having the confidence and esteem of the entire community iu 



26. 

which he lived, until the time of his death. Like most really 
great men, he was modest and unassuming in his manners. He 
early took ground in favor of the independence of the Colonies, 
but he was not permitted to live to witness the consummation of 
Ms hopes. 

Colonel, afterwards, General John Hathorn, was a true pa- 
triot and a man of sterling integrity. He was, at the time of 
the battle, about the same age of Tusten and Brandt, and al- 
though the result of the engagement was disastrous to his com- 
mand, no one ever questioned his bravery. 

The fact that his little band of untrained soldiers were able, 
for so many hours, to resist the attack of an enemy that greatly 
outnumbered them, is evidence that he was a man of superior 
military genius. The high estimate placed upon his character 
and ability by the citizens of that day, is shown by the fact that 
he was repeatedly chosen to represent them in the halls of State 
and National legislation. On the 22d day of July, 1822, forty- 
three years after the battle — the occasion being the laying of the 
foundation of a monument at Goshen, Orange Co., N. Y., to com- 
memorate the sacrifices of the men whose bones had then for 
the first time been gathered from the field of battle. — Gen'l Ha- 
thorn spoke as follows: 

"At the end of three and forty years we have assembled to 
perform the sad rites of sepulture to the bones of our country- 
men and kindred. But these alone are not sufficient. Policy 
has united with the gratitude of nations in erecting some memo- 
rial of the virtues of those who died defending their country. — 
Monuments to the brave are mementoes to their descendants; 
the honors they record are stars to the patriot in the path of glo- 
ry. Beneath the mausoleum whose foundation we now lay, re- 
pose all that was earthly of patriots and heroes. This honor 
has been long their due, but circumstances which it is unneces- 
sary for me to recount have prevented an earlier display of this 
gratitude. Having commanded on that melancholy occasion, 
which bereft the nation of so many of its brightest ornaments 
— having been the companion of their sufferings in a pathless 
desert, and a witness of their valor against a savage foe of su- 
perior numbers, I approach the duty assigned me with mingled 
feelings of sadness and pleasure. May this monument endure 
with the liberties of our country: when they perish, this land 
will be no longer worthy to hold within its bosom the consecra- 
ted bones of its heroes." 

These noble words, and falling from the lips of the venera- 
ble commander, then about eighty years old, and on such an oc- 
casion, must have been grandly impressive. 

Joseph Brandt, the Mohawk Chief, was born in Ohio in 
about 1742, and died Nov. 24th, 1807. He was frequently spo- 
ken of as a Shawnee by birth and only a Mohawk by adoption. 



27. 

•and it has also been said that be was a son of Sir William 
Johnson. 

Having taken a part in the campaign of Lake George in 
1755, and in various subsequent conflicts, he officiated after Sir 
"Wm. Johnson's death as secretary of Col. Guy Johnson, Super- 
intendent-General of the Indians, and when the American Rev- 
olution began, he was instrumental in exciting the Indians against 
the Colonies. His presence at the battle of Wyoming is doubt- 
ful, though he took part in that of Cherry Valley and other san- 
guinary engagements. He was received with great distinction. 
■on his tour to England in 1786 and was attached to the military 
service of Sir Guy Carlton in Canada. He opposed the confed- 
eration of the Indians and which led to the expedition of Gen'l 
Wayne, and did all he could to prevent peace between the In- 
dians and the United States. He was however zealously devo- 
ted to the welfare of his own people, and conspicuous for his ef- 
forts to prevent the introduction of ardent spirits among them. 
He was a brave warrior and noted for his ability, as testified by 
his correspondence. 

During his stay in England he collected funds for a church, 
which was the first one built in Upper Canada. He there also 
published the "Book of Common Prayer" and the "Gospel of 
Mark" in Mohawk and English. He spent the latter part of his 
life at Burlington Bay, near the head of Lake Ontario, where he 
built a house for himself on a tract of land conferred upon him by 
the British Government. 

Brandt's personal appearance and manners, added to his ac- 
knowledged abilities, gave him great power over his followers. 
His bearing was haughty and his language often insulting. He 
was tall and rather spare; generally wore moccasins elegantly 
trimmed with beads; leggings and breach-cloth of superfine blue; 
a short, green coat with two silver epaulets, and a small round 
laced hat. His blanket of blue cloth was gorgeously adorned 
with a border of red. 

Now let us turn our thoughts to the events that preceded 
the battle, and then to the contemplation of the battle itself. 

As early as 1757 Lieut.-Gov. DeLancy reported to the Gen- 
eral Assembly that the Indians had made incursions into the 
counties of Orange and Ulster — Sullivan then being a part of 
the latter, and murdered some of the inhabitants. 

He also reported that in response to repeated applications 
he had ordered a line of block-houses built, more effectually to 
secure that part of the County and to encourage the inhabitants 
to stay and not abandon their settlement. He, in the same re- 
port expresses fear that after the troops shall have been with- 
drawn, that part of the County wiU be destroyed by the French 
and their Savages. 

It appears that the settlers consented to and did remain, 



28. 

;many of them, only to fall victims to the barbarous cruelty of 
savages, tories and Indians — in the employ of that government 
which but a few years before had, through its oflBcial agents, ex- 
pressed such disinterested solicitude for their welfare, and such 
painful apprehensions that they might be injured by "the French 
and their lavages." 

As we recount these unmitigated outrages of the British 
Government, if our blood be not stirred, and we do not feel in- 
dignant beyond expression, then are we unworthy descendants 
of the men who fought, that this country might be free from the 
tyranny of such a government. 

In October, 1778, Brandt, with a considerable force, crossed 
over from the Delaware to the Neversink, and down the latter 
into the Mamakating Valley. The most of the settlers being 
notified of his approach, succeeded in escaping from their homes; 
some taking shelter in the block-houses, or "forts", as they were 
called. A number, however, were killed, houses and barns were 
burned, horses and cattle driven away. No effort was made at 
this time to pursue the invaders, but to guard against the repe- 
tition of this outrage Count Pulaski was stationed there with a 
battalian of cavalry. 

In February, 1779, he was ordered with his troops to South 
Carolina. It is probable that Brandt was soon informed that 
the frontier was again unprotected, and organized a second raid 
into that region. 

He reached the vicinity of what is now called Cuddeback- 
ville, near the line of Orange County, on the night of the 19th of 
July, 1779. 

This time his approach was more rapid and stealthy and 
the knowledge of his presence in the neighborhood, before day- 
break the next morning, caused the greatest consternation. 

Some succeeded in reaching the block houses, others took 
refuge in the woods, while many were cruelly murdered. After 
burning and plundering at will, Brandt marched hastily back, 
laden with spoils, to Grassy Brook, a small stream which emp- 
ties into the Mongaup a few miles from the Delaware, where he 
rejoined a portion of his command which had been left there. 

It will be seen by this fact that he had a much larger force 
than he deemed necessary for the destruction and plunder of the 
settlement, but he anticipated pursuit and thus guarded against 
capture and defeat. 

The news of this terrible disaster having reached Col. Tus- 
ten on the 20th, he at once issued orders to the several officers 
of his regiment to meet him the next morning with as many vol- 
unteers as they could muster, at the " lower neighborhood." 
About one hundred and fifty officers and men appeared at the 
time and place named, and early, probably before daybreak, 
pushed forward under Col. Tusten toward the Neversink. 



29. 

At the place now called Fincliville on the east side of' 
Shawangunk mountain, they had breakfast and were supplied 
with some provisions for the campaign. 

After the long and weary march of that day, following the 
trail of the retreating foe, they encamped for the night at Skin- 
ner's mill, about three miles from the mouth of Halfway Brook. 

On the morning of the 22d they were joined by Col. Hath- 
orn of the Warwick regiment, with a few men, and he being the- 
senior ofScer took command. 

Advancing to Halfway Brook, now Barryville, they came 
upon the Indian encampment of the previous night, and it was. 
evident that Brandt was near. In order to ascertain his exact 
position and his contemplated place of crossing the Delaware, 
Captains Tyler and Cuddeback were sent forward. 

Tyler was soon shot, and after a short delay caused by his 
death, Col. Hathorn advanced, and as soon as he saw the main 
body of the enemy leisurely approaching the ford, near the 
mouth of the Lackawaxen, (some had crossed and others were 
crossing with the plunder) he left the Indian trail and turned 
to the right, intending by a rapid march over these hills to in- 
tercept Brandt at the ford. 

The wily Indian had discovered his pursuers and anticipat- 
ing their object, marched his forces quickly up this ravine to our 
left, thereby placing himself in the rear of Col. Hathorn and, 
preventing about fifty of his men, who had fallen behind in the 
march, from joining him. 

And now we have the contending forces in close proximity 
to each other. 

The Americans, numbering about ninety, occupied the small 
plateau on which we are assembled. The ledge of rocks which 
you see a little to our right, and extending around to the monu- 
ment yonder, formed the southerly boundary of the battle field. 

The Indians and tories came up from the ravine to the left, 
or northerly from this stand, and extended their line around to 
the west. 

0! What an hour of supreme peril was that for the little 
Spartan band thus environed by the very jaws of death. 

What a scene for us to contemplate, looking back through 
the vista of an hundred years ! Who shall tell us of that day 
and hour, so fraught with deepest interest to those men and the 
dear ones they had left at home ? 

Their voices are hushed in death, and their spirits have 
returned to the God who gave them. The sun above us is silent 
— these rocks and hills will not their lasting silence break — the 
whisperings of the wind through the branches of the trees about 
us we do not understand, and" the mirrored waters of yonder 
Delaware have not retained the shadows and impressions of 
that day. 



£0. 

If these mute witnesses could but speak, how gladly would 
we be silent and listen to their eloquence; grander far than ever 
fell from human lips. 

But we must content ourselves with such information as 
came from the survivors of that fearful contest, and which now 
occupy a prominent page in the histories of Orange and Sullivan 
Counties; to which histories we are largely indebted for the 
statement of facts contained in this address concerning the bat- 
tle of Minisink and the events immediately preceding it.* 

Brandt, realizing the odium that must ever rest upon his 
name by reason of his inhuman and barbarous treatment of the 
wounded and helpless who fell into his hands after the battle, 
attempted to palliate these wrongs by a statement made, many 
years after, to the eftect that before the battle began, he appear- 
ed in full view of the Americans, and told them that his force 
w^as superior to them, and that if they would surrender he would 
protect them. That he could then control his warriors, but af- 
ter blood-shed he could not answer for the result. 

Assuming this statement to be strictly true, we do not won- 
der that Col. Hathorn declined to intrust his command to the 
tender care of the friends on whose hands the blood of loving 
^mothers and innocent children had scarcely dried. It was the in- 
vitation of "the spider to the fly," and I do not hesitate here to 
express the opinion that if it Jiad been accepted, not one of that 
band of patriots would ever hav^ escaped to tell a tale of horrors 
more heart-rending than the history of that day now records. — 
Brandt could then have given his own version of the affair with- 
out fear of contradiction. 

The history of the Indian character is written in the mid- 
Jiight glare of burning homes, with the tomahawk and scalping- 
knife, dipped in the blood of women and children. 

The battle really began about eleven o'clock, by the Indians 
advancing from the North, but they were promptly repulsed and 
held in check while some of the men hastily threw up a sort of 
breast-work of sticks and up-turned stones, about one hundred 
and fifty feet I'rom the southerly extremity of the plateau. The 
location of this defensive lina was, but a few years ago, distinct- 
ly marked. 

At this juncture Brandt's voice was distinctly heard within 
the American lines, calling upon those of his forces who had 
crossed the Delaware to return; and soon, thereafter, Hathorn's 
men, who had been formed into a sort of hollow square, were 
nearly surrounded. Indians appeared in all directions, but in 
•greatest numbers towards the north and west, and concealing 
themselves behind rocks and trees, advanced from time to time, 
as opportunity offered, and thus a running fire was kept up. 

^History of Orange County by Samuel AV. Eager. History of 
Sullivan County by James E. Quinlau. 



31. 

At erery weak point Brandt directed his efforts, but without 
avail. Col. Hathorn, while guarding every point in the line, as; 
far as possible, gave strict orders to his men to reserve their fire 
until it could be made effective. Thus the ammunition, which 
was lamentably short, was carefully husbanded. As the day 
wore on, Brandt became disheartened, and was about to aban- 
don the conflict and withdraw from the field, when the death of 
one of the most effective militiamen, who had for hours success- 
fully guarded a point towards the north-westerly point of the 
line, and near where Col. Tusten was with the wounded, gave 
the Indians and Tories an opportunity to break through. Amid 
deafening yells, they came pouring through this opening in such 
numbers that further resistance was impossible, and the brave 
men who for six long hours, without water, under a burning 
July sun, with insufficient ammunition, had successfully defied 
an enemy many times outnumbering them, fled from the field 
soaked with the blood of their comrades. Col. Tusten being, as 
we have seen, a physician and surgeon, was at this time, as he 
probably had been during the greater part of the engagement, 
attending to the necessities of the wounded behind a cliff of 
rocks. He and the seventeen disabled men under his care, were 
at once set upon and killed. Others who were wounded, and 
some who were not, were pursued and dispatched. Some died 
of their wounds, so that we may safely conclude that not more 
than thirty of the ninety who were in the engagement, survived. 

What became of the fifty men who were isolated from the 
the main force, history does not record. If they were, as it 
would seem they must have been, within supporting distance, 
and made no effort to aid their imperiled and suffering broth- 
ers, let us hope that the earth opened and swallowed them up. 

The loss of the enemy has never been ascertained, but was 
undoubtedly much greater than ours. 

There were others, many miles from the field of battle, who 
must not be forgotten on this occasion. I refer to the families 
of these men. 

What has been said of the events of that terrible day is a 
matter of public history ; yet who but God keeps the record of 
broken hearts, and numbers the falling tears ? 

If to-day we could read that record, our deepest sympa- 
thies would be stirred by the untold anguish of the wives and 
children that day made widows and fatherless. 

Now, my friends, for a little time let us lift ourselves above 
these hills and take a broader view of the world about us. 

The event we have been considering, although of local im- 
portance, was but a ripple on the bloody waters of revolution, 
then struggling on toward the broad bay of independence. 
Three years and eighteen days had only passed since from Inde- 
pendence Hall had been proclaimed that sublime declaration 



32. 

^Hhat all men are created equal." This truth is the bed-rock 
upon which Republican Government rests, and without its re- 
cognition no people can enjoy the full measure of human liberty- 
regulated by law. 

The immortal fifty-six who signed the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence also expressed their " firm reliance on the protection of 
Divine Providence." 

Thus it will be seen that faith in God and the brotherhood 
of man are the two great principles that gave life to this Nation 
— the lungs into which the infant Republic first breathed the 
vitalizing air of freedom. 

It is not my purpose, at this time, to recall the struggles 
and sacrifices of the seven years' war that preceded our recogni- 
tion as an independent government, but only to say that it clos- 
ed, leaving undisturbed human slavery — that loathsome ulcer on 
the body politic, and which, in later years, endangered the life 
of the republic. It was an institution at war with justice, sub- 
versive of the dearest rights of humanity and most hateful in 
the sight of God ; yet so thoroughly had its poisonous breath 
permeated every department of the Government, and infected 
the country from Maine to California, that few public men, and 
DO political party was entirely free from its pestilential influences. 

The truth of this statement will be the more fully realized 
when I recall to your remembrance the fiict that even Abraham 
Lincoln, as late as 1862, being then President of the United 
States, was willing to let this monster live if it would but relin- 
quish its grasp upon the throat of the nation. But the time 
had come for the consummation of the truth of the Declaration 
of Independence. So long as the war was prosecuted simply for 
the suppression of the rebellion, trying at the same time to leave 
slavery undisturbed — the foundation upon which it rested — no 
substantial victories rewarded our efibrts. God would not be 
mocked. He required the Nation He had so signally blessed to 
conform to His will, and no sooner had the Emancipation proc- 
lamation been issued than victory began to crown our efforts 
and perch upon our banners. 

It was a fearful crisis in our country's history. A million 
men stood arrayed against each other in mortal combat, and 
aided by the most destructive enginery of warfare, the strife 
went on. The tread of armies and the sound of battle came to 
us with every gale from the South. With what anxiety did we 
listen to catch the faintest whisper ! The father hoped his 
brave boy would not be harmed ; the widowed mother trusted 
that her only son and support would be spared to return to her 
again ; the affectionate and devoted wife prayed that she might 
not be made a widow and her little ones fatherless. 



33. 

But prayers and hopes and tears were vain to stop the 
dreadful carnage. 

" Four hundred thousand men — 
The good, the brave, the true — 

In tangled wood and mountain glen, 
On battle field, in prison pen. 
Lie dead for me and you. 

Four hundred thousand of the brave 
Have made our ransomed soil their grave 
For me and you. 
Good friends, for me and you." 
The sacrifice was great — the victory complete. The Union 
was not only preserved, but slavery was abolished. The hot 
blood of patriotism had melted the manacles from the enslaved 
and toiling millions of the South, and they became free ; and 
to-day the stars and stripes not only float over the home of the 
brave, but o'er the land of the free. 

Recurring again to this Centennial day, we are impressed 
with the changes these hundred years have wrought. Our bor- 
ders have been extended and now stretch from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific — from the Lakes to the Gulf. From thirteen feeble 
colonies, with a population of three millions, we now number 
thirty-eight States with forty-five millions of people. 

Our rivers, lakes and mountains are grand beyond descrip- 
tion — our agricultural and mineral resources inexhaustible. In 
fact, nature has supplied us with all the elements necessary 
for the upbuilding of a mighty empire. 

These natural elements of greatness have been happily 
supplemented by the industry, perseverence and genius of our 
people. They have subdued forests, cultivated the fields, 
made houses, built villages, cities, canals, railways, lines of tele- 
graph, and established on every hand schools and churches. 

The inventive genius of American minds has shown in the 
production of a great variety of labor-saving machines, by which 
oar agricultural, mineral and manufacturing interests have been 
steadily developed. From the depths and darkness of the earth 
we have supplied the world with light. 

In the accomplishment of these grand results the elements 
of nature, steam arid electricity, have been utilized and made 
man's obedient slaves. 

As we thus recount the sacrifices and successes of the past, 
and contemplate the possibilties of the future, the question nat- 
urally presses itself upon our attention: What are present dan- 
gers and present duties ? 

I have already occupied so much of your time, that my 
answer to this question must necessarily be brief; only the sug- 
gestions of a few thoughts for your consideration : 

The welfare and prosperity of a republic depends upon the 



34 

j)roper exercise of the elective franchise. There is therefore 
great clan,2;er in universal suffrage unless those who enjoy this 
high privilege have an intelligent appreciation of its importance. 

Herein, I fear, the average American voter is lamentably de- 
ficient. 

A second danger, and one that grows directly out of the 
first, is the impunity w^ith which votes are bought and sold. This 
practice ought to be frowned upon by all good men, and soon as 
possible a law should be passed disfranchising forever both buy- 
er and seller. Our elections should be fairly conducted and the 
result honestly declared, and he who is thus chosen must have 
the office, whether it be that of President or Constable, 

Another danger lies in the extreme partisanship with which 
our public affairs are conducted. Let us strive to cultivate a 
higher regard for principle and less attachment to party. 

. Again, we cannot close our eyes to the recldess and open vio- 
lation of the sanctity of the Christian Sabbath. Thoughtful minds 
can but regard, with sorrow and apprehension, the growing ten- 
dency in this country, in imitation of other lands, to make the 
day which God commanded we should remember and keep holy, 
a day for diversion and pleasure, rather than one of worship and 
rest. 

Lastly and greater than all others, because it stimulates 
every evil and enhances every danger, is the manufacture and 
sale of intoxicating drinks. It is the embodiment of crime, the 
germ of poverty, the parent of human suffering. The liquor in- 
terest is more potent to-day, in this land, than slavery ever was; 
more dangerous to our liberties and more hateful in the sight of 
God. As we love Him and love our country, let us consecrate 
ourselves to the extirpation to this crime of crimes. 

If we do not and continue to make legally right wiiat we 
know to be morally wrong, the day is not far distant when the 
lowering clouds of God's displeasure will again rest upon us, 
only to be lifted after a long night of national sorrow. 



35. 



ADDRESS 

BT 
OF 

MONTICELLO. N. Y. 



Fellow Citizens : To-day in the fairest village of our 
sister county of Orange, a mighty throng have assembled around 
a marble shaft, upon which they read a legend, carved in the en- 
during stone, that on the 22d July, 1779, the Patriots whose 
names are there inscribed, fell in a bloody struggle on the distant 
beights of Minisink, after deeds of mighty valor, and that under- 
neath repose the gathered and precious ashes of the heroic dead. 
It is well that the last resting-place of those brave men should 
be among their own kindred, and amid their childhood scenes. 

We are standing to day upon the very spot where those 
patriots fell. The soil beneath our feet was crimsoned with their 
blood. These hills, one hundred years ago to-day, looked down 
and saw the grandest spectacle this earth affords — the death of 
the patriot who dies for his country. Here they struggled, 
fought and died; Americans, patriots, heroes every one. Shall 
we, shall we, on this memorable day, with mournful visage lin- 
ger near their funeral urn, and drape it with the chaplets of the 
dead.? ^ Ah, no! No tears, no cypress for the patriot dead; for 
they die not, but live forever. To all men in every age, their 
lives are an example, their deaths an inspiration. Let us ban- 
ish every note of woe. Let these hills which heard their death 
groans, resound with the loud huzzas and acclamations of us 
their countrymen, proud that it is given to us, after a hundred 
years have rolled away, to commemorate their valor on the field 
where it was so gloriously displayed. 

We envy not the citizens of Orange that if true manhood, 
lofty courage and ardent patriotism were here made conspicuous 
on that eventful day, that the fame and glory belongs to their 



36. 

lionored sires. As sons of Sullivan we are content that our soil 
was consecrated by their blood. 

To-day our maids and matrons bring fragrant flowers that 
bloom among our hemlock hills, and strew them over every spot 
where those brave heroes fell. They drop their tears for those 
who died to shield the wives, the daughters and the mothers of 
that stormy time from the torments of a merciless Indian foe; 
and as their tears fall upon the flowers, behold, they breathe 
forth a sweeter perfume and blush with a brighter hue; and then 
from these, with tender hands, they wreath a hero's garland, 
and lay it with reverence on yon monumental pile. 

"What mortal tongue or pen can fitly chronicle the heroism 
and fortitude of those gallant men, who fought and died upon 
this gory field one hundred years ago to-day.^ 

"We see them at their fire-sides, in those troubled revolution- 
ary times, when the startling news is brought to them that 
Brandt — the cruel, plundering, murderous Brandt — the dusky 
■demon who gloated over his murdered victims amid the smoking 
ruins of Cherry "Valley and Wyoming — that Brandt and his treach- 
erous, uncivilized braves were hovering near the peaceful homes 
which then smiled in this wilderness, leaving blackened ashes and 
human blood to mark his scourging path. The tocsin of alarm 
is sounded: "To arms!" "To arms!" they cry; and to the sound 
of fife and drum, mid the tears of the loved ones they left be- 
hind, and followed by their prayers, they marched away to meet 
and stem the irresistible current, which was demolishing the 
hearth-stones, and sweeping away the lives of their countrymen 
in its bloody tide. They marched through the pathless wilder- 
ness, and 'neath a burning July sun, one hundred years ago to- 
day they met the foe. They fought ; they were out-numbered ; 
alas! they were conquered; but not until half their little band 
lay dead upon this historic field; not until they had accomplish- 
ed a feat of arms which will blaze forever upon the pages of our 
history; not until they had illustrated how American patriots 
could fight and die, when opposed to a hireling savage horde, 
let loose upon them by the power which sought — thank God! in 
vain, — to crush the independent spirit of American freemen. 

Shades of the dead, who died in honor here! Soldiers, he- 
roes, patriots of Minisink! Your gallant deeds, your unselfish 
sacrifices, your intrepid valor, your immortal deaths are not for- 
gotten and unprized in this generation by your countrymen. — 
Assembled here, we honor and revere your memories, and conse- 
crate this battle ground, through all time, to your honor and 
your fame. We mark this spot with a cenotaph, rugged and 
unpretending, for such in life ye were, quarried by reverent 
hands from out these hills, immortalized by your deeds forever- 
more. The first beams of the morning sun will gild it with splen- 
dor and a halo will be shed around it by his evening rays. There 



37. 

through the coming ages let it stand. Let no vandal hand de-- 
molish it. There may it remain untouched forever, save by the- 
gentle summer breeze and the wild winter storm. 



Mrs. Jonathan Corey, aged eighty-three years, was now sit- 
ting upon the stand in a chair once owned by Col. Tusten. of 
whom Mrs. Corey is a relative 

Judge Butts then in polite and appropriate language, pre- 
sented the aged lady with a beautiful basket of flowers, tasteful- 
ly and artistically prepared by Mrs. J. W. Johnston, bearing in 
the centre the figures "1779" formed with scarlet flowers. 

The Judge also and in a touching manner, referred to "the 
old arm chair" of Mrs. Corey and the memories with which it 
stood connected. 

Mrs. Corey, stepping beside the Chairman on the platform, 
and in full view of the audience, requested from him a public ■ 
announcement of her gratitude and her acknowledgments for the 
kindness shown her. 

The Chairman then on behalf of the aged lady and in compli- 
ance with her request, spoke as follows: 

Ladies and Gentlemen: On behalf of our aged friend^ 
Mrs. Corey, I present to you her acknowledgments for the at- 
tentions thus extended to her, and likewise for the presentation 
of this beautiful floral gift, bestowed in a manner so appropriate 
and polite. 

I now hold to your view tliis relict of ancient days, in the 
shape of a chair, once owned and used in the family of Col. Tus- 
ten, second in command at this battle, and who with seventeen 
of his faithful followers met death by the tomahawk in Indian 
hands, beneath yonder ledge whose gray and frowning side stands 
the enduring witness of the barbaric scenes perpetrated at its 
base. It bears the unerring marks of the relict it is represented 
to be, and I hold it to your view with all the reverence and ad- 
miration its history demands. 

Here too stands the aged possessor of it now, directly san- 
guined to that Colonel whose memory we revere, and whose name 
and deeds are so securely treasured in our American hearts. 

Although shackeled by the burdens which eighty-three years 
of time have cast upon her frame, yet animated by that undying 
flame of patriotism burning within her bosom, she has borne the 
toil, amid this scorching summer sun, to come here to-day, that 
she, with all others of us, might once more tread upon this classic 
ground, consecrated by the blood of her heroic relative and to 
form yet one living and connecting Jink between the present and 
historic past. 

Fittmg to this occasion indeed tliat she should occupy this 
chair, upon the platform erected here after the lapse of one hun- 
dred years, upon the very scene of the struggle in which her own 



38. 

relative was an actor so prominent, nncl whereon he so bravely- 
yielded his life, — 

** The fittest place for him to die 
Because he died for man." 
A striking incident, fruitful of pride and enthusiasm with Amer- 
icans ail, in common with the lady herself. With us, my friends,, 
because we can embellish with Tusten's name, the history of the 
Country we love. With her, because such illustrious blood cour- 
ses her veins, and because amid the fast-fading scenes of her life, 
she can rejoice in her title of American citizen, valuable only 
from the results of that most grand of National struggles, which 
the life and the death of her own kindred contributed to produce. 
She too like others of us will soon pass away, and may she 
be happy iu her meeting ■with the noble spirit which fled fronx 
this romantic ground a century ago, and hand in hand with him 
as they shall journey along the course of the stars in spiritual 
beatitude, recount and only recount their sufferings, their sor- 
rows and their perils past. 



39. 



ADDRESS 

BY THE 
OF 

ROWLAND'S, PENNSYLVANIA. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 'Tis well that 
you have assembled here upon this hallowed ground to com- 
memorate the brave deeds of your patriotic ancestors. 'Tis well, 
fellow citizens, that the descendants of revolutionary ancestors 
■should ever and anon keep alive the sacred fires of freedom by 
assembling on the day and in the place where those brave Spar- 
tans offered up their lives in defence of their liberties and homes. 

'Tis well to stand upon the ground that drank the blood, 
€ven unto death, of full one-half of all the brave command who 
met the Indian horde, led on by the wily Brandt on this very 
plateau, just one hundred years ago to-day. Led on by Brandt, 
1 say; yes, and he led on by twenty-seven tories (as history and 
tradition tell us) who were worse than the barbarous savages 
themselves; and they again hissed on by British promise of 
gold, power, and possession of their neighbors' houses and prop- 
erty, as the price of their treason, against the sacred right of lib- 
erty, both political and religious. 

'Tis well for those who have drawn the sword in their coun- 
try's cause to now and again take down the old trusty friend, 
burnish it, and teach the rising generation that liberty was not 
bought without a price; and if, as in this case, the actual par- 
ticipants have all passed away, 'tis well for their children and 
grand and great grand-children to do likewise; and gatherings 
like this are like unto a brightening up of the old blade. 

History has failed to do justice to the men who so gallantly 
offered up their lives on the battle field of Minisink; although a 
very full account of their sanguinary conflict may be found in the 
archives at Albany, as reported to the Governor by Col. Hath- 
orn immediately after. From this and tradition it would seem 



40. 

that Brandt conceived the idea of exterminating the people of 
Mini sink, which included that section of country where Port 
Jervis now stands, some twenty-five miles down the Delaware 
river. Gathering his braves to the number of about one hun- 
dred and forty, and some twenty-seven white tories, he stealthily 
made his way into the quiet little hamlet of Minisink, on the 
20th, at night, or early in the morning of the 21st, murdering 
every man, woman and child in their way, and burning two saw- 
mills, one grist mill and the only church in the settlement, 
which stood on what is now Main street in the village of Port 
Jervis. From my best information there were only two build- 
ings left standing in all that thrifty settlement: one a stone 
bouse on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware and a similar 
structure yet standing in what is now called Germantown. They 
were both built and used as forts, as well as dwellings, were bar- 
ricaded and defended by the people who fled to them for pro- 
tection against the savage horde. On hearing of the slaughter 
of their neighbors, the brave men of Goshen and vicinity assem- 
bled, enrolled themselves under the command of Col. Tusten, 
and they were again joined by another company under Col. 
Hathorn, and all marched to Minisink, where they were joined 
by the few men left in the place, a few also from New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania, and immediately started in pursuit of the 
savage foe. The Indians and whites encamped some three miles 
apart on the night of the 21st, about three miles east of ^ this 
place. Next morning early found our men again in pursuit of 
the enemy, who was leisurely making his way up the river, and 
pretending to cross it yonder at my right, about one mile distant 
at the confluence of the Delaware and Lackawaxen rivers. Ac- 
cording to some accounts, the Indians were surprised by our 
men, while other and more probable accounts represent Brandt 
as aware of the pursuit, and only pretending to cross the river 
with his plunder, while he had marched the main body of his 
men around yonder hill, thus coming in the rear of our men and 
cutting off their retreat; at the same time forcing them to take 
their position on this plateau, as you see it, with that perpen- 
dicular ledge of some 20 feet in height in their rear and saving 
them from any danger of an attack from that direction. 

That this is the exact spot on which the battle was fought 
there is no doubt, from the fact that there are men upon the 
ground to-day who were here when the bones of the slain were 
gathered and taken to Goshen and interred with imposing cere- 
monies. Again there are those still living who have visited the 
ground with men who participated in the battle. 

Having lived all my life in this vicinity, I have sought after 
particulars with some pains. 

Some thirty-seven years ago I closed the eyes of Absolom 
Conkliu in death at the age of eighty. He was over fifteen years 



41. 

old at the time of the battle, aud he with his father and mother 
lived just on yonder point at the mouth of the Lackawaxen, 
where his father had built the first log house in this section and 
cleared a few acres of land. The old man lived with my father 
at the time of his death, and never tired of telling me how they 
were compelled to leave their rude home and descend the Delaware 
river in a canoe on account of the Indians becoming threatening, 
only a short time before the battle. How they stopped on the- 
Pennsylvania side of the river, opposite Minisink; how his fath- 
er joined the militia in pursuit of Brandt; how they fought un- 
til late in the afternoon of a very hot day without water; whea 
their ammunition became exhausted they were compelled to 
retreat — his father running to the Delaware at Otter Eddy,- 
swimming the same and making his way back to his family. 
How tliey soon moved back; how he had gone to the battle 
ground with his father and saw the bones of those who died. 

Again Brandt, who at and after that time held a commis- 
sion in the British army, on a certain occasion in New York 
city after peace was declared, gave his version of the battle, in. 
brief, like this : 

He said the whites took a position on an elevated plateau 
with a small round hill on their left; (the one you see on my 
left, no doubt) that before bringing on a general engagement he 
sent out a white flag, which was met by one from our side;, that 
he rode around yonder hill to the flags and told our men they 
had better surrender and he would treat them as prisoners of 
war; that his force was far superior to ours, and if a general 
battle was brought on he would not be able to restrain his sav- 
age warriors; that while thus in parley a bullet came whistling 
by his side and cut his sword belt; that he then threw himself 
from his horse, retreated to his men and drew them up for bat- 
tle. Be that as it may, there is no doubt our men occupied this 
half acre of ground, with rude breastworks of stone, logs and 
brush hastily thrown up, running in a semi-circle from the point 
of yonder rock around by this stand to the top of yonder ledge. 

Col. Hathorn in his report to the Governor speaks of Col. 
Tusten (a practicing physician) estabhshing a hospital under a 
high rock in the rear of our line; that he had a number of pa- 
tients and was also wounded himself. 

It is probable when our men broke, the brave Colonel was- 
tomahawked together with his patients, as seventeen skeletons 
were found bleaching beneath that rock at my right when the 
bones of the slain were removed to their final resting place at 
Goshen, Orange County, New York. 

This celebration, friends, is truly a success. Such a vast con- 
course of people was never assembled at Lackawaxeu before. To 
the committee which has had this work in charge, too much 
praise cannot be giren. I am told a committee of five or six 



42. 

prominent men of Banyville and vicinity liave had this whole 
-work in charge, building and grading roads to the top of this 
high, wild, rocky mountain, at least a thousand feet above the 
railroad, canal and river; transporting timber therefrom to build 
all these platforms, stands and seats, bringing cement and even 
water up this rugged acclivity for the erection of yonder beauti- 
ful, unique and appropriate monument, the conception and exe- 
cution of which was not only artistic but imposing and grand. 
An herculean task that would have discouraged men less ener- 
getic and patriotic than themselves. 

But there it stands, its broad base planted on this vast 
granite rock, the well carved lettering upon its sides wnll tell 
the passer-by one hundred years hence how men here two hun- 
dred years before, had offered up tlieir lives on the altar of their 
country; and how there were men one hundred years after with 
enough of gratitude to mark the spot by yonder pyramid. It 
now points to that Heaven wherein we trust these brave depart- 
•ed spirits have all assembled. Yes, gentlemen and ladies, one 
hundred years hence yon monumental pile will stand in all its 
beauty, unless destroyed by earthquakes or sacraligious arm. 
Yet I trust some good guardian angel will palsy the Vandalic 
hand, should one be raised for its destruction. 

Let us hope that this our country, the last refuge of liber- 
<ty, may here forever endure; for alas ! should the lamp here go 
out it may never be relighted. 

" Westward the course of empire takes its way — 
The first four acts already past; 

A fifth shall close the drama with the day, 
Time's noblest offspring is the last." 
We have a right to hope for the durability of our country, 
,and while the ladies lend their presence at such gatherings and 
in such numbers, we, assuredly, will not hope in vain. 



43. 



ADDRESS 
HOH. THOMAS J. LYON, 

OF 

PORT JFBVIS, N. T. 



Fellow Citizens: As I have been unexpectedly called' 
upon to say something on this memorable occasion, without a 
moment's preparation, and as I came here to hear and not to- 
speak. my remarks, of necessity, will be disconnected and few. 
As I have been listening with delight to the speakers who have 
preceded me, my mind has been irresistably carried back to the- 
early days of our country, — a hundred years back, when upon 
this spot where now we stand, the best blood of our Revolution- 
ary Fathers wa^ spilled for us and for the liberties we now enjoy. 
It was a day in the history of our revolutionary straggle which 
will never be forgotten. It was a period when subjugation star- 
ed our little army in the face, — when a successful foe lined the 
banks of your beautiful Delaware, at the base of this mountain, 
where we now stand, when the enemies of freedom were exulting 
in the anticipated overthrow of our destitute aud almost exhaust- 
ed army. But the patriotism of a Washiogton again cheered 
their drooping spirits, animated anew their enfeebled bodies, 
and kindled in their bosoms an inextinguishable flame of liberty 
and love of independence, that nothing could subdue. 

There is no need, after what you have already heard, for me 
to allude in detail to the brave deeds of those whose memories 
we to-day meet to honor and embalm. Their heroic deeds, their 
dauntless courage, their zealous patriotism will never be forgot- 
ten so long as American hearts live and America is a nation. 

The names of Tusten and Hathorn, with their equally heroic 
comrads of the rank and file, are the inheritance of us all, and 
we honor oui-selves in thus paying our patriotic tribute to their 
memory. "After life's fitful fever they sleep well;'"' and here- 
where this lofty peak kisses the clouds, here where the bones lay 



4t. 

for years, here where the sunbeams first glow in the morning,, it 
is fitting that a monument to their memory should be erected; it 
is meet that we should celebrate their fame. 

But in the few moments allotted to me, I cannot forbear 
saying a few words on a subject beautifully alluded to by your 
distinguished orator, in relation to the vigilance and fostering 
care necessary to retain our civil and religious liberty. If you 
would secure these blessings as an inheritance to your children a 
hundred years hence, you cannot too strongly guard against cor- 
ruption in all its forms. My own observation, and a warning 
voice coming from the sepulchre of many nations, leads me to 
apprehend that unless we are zealous in this direction, we may 
yet fall from our high estate. Look at facts as they now exist 
around you, and tell me if there is not danger. Consider the na- 
ture and tendency of the means so often employed to defeat the 
popular will in the choice of our rulers. 

While men of all parties have united in the cry of bribery 
and corruption, all have been, to a greater or less extent, guilty. 

I speak of all parties, and I affirm that notwithstanding the 
care and vigilance of the renl friends of truth and virtue, the 
right of suffrage has been shamefully abused, the ballot-box has 
been prostituted, the Constitution and the laws have been viola- 
ted, the principles of morality and the character of the Nation 
have been dishonored. Such are the effects of that reckless spir- 
it which, if not restrained and kept within proper bounds, may 
yet shake the temple of liberty from the foundation to the top 
stone, and extinguish its sacred flames on American altars. 

I apprehend that in these latter days too many of us go for 
our party, too few for our country. There was a time when our 
fathers were noted for an inflexible determination to sustain the 
Constitution and the laws of the land, but I strongly suspect 
that another and different standard exists in many places and es- 
j)ecially in our most populous cities. The individual who will 
give the most money to secure the success of his party, will oc- 
cupy the highest place in the estimation of many of the voters 
of his own political creed. Indeed, the man who can obtain the 
largest number of votes by political intrigue or deception, is 
thought by many to possess an enviable distinction. Such a 
j)rominence is one that noble minds should scorn. 

The man who employs such means to effect the triumph of 
his party, strikes a daring blow at the institutions of his Coun- 
try. He is a shameless assassin of virtue and liberty. He would 
pull down the great pillars of the Constitution, and cast to the 
winds the scattered pages of his Country's laws. 

But I must close. I need not, I cannot speak particularly 
of the duties which, as individuals, you owe to your Country, 
but I pray you, see to it, that they are discharged with incor- 
ruptible integrity. A great responsibility rests upon us. Our 



45. 

iri£uence will be felt by those wl o shall come after us. The 
manner in which we live and act, and improve the privileges we 
possess, will tend to shape the character and destiny of the ris- 
ing generation, and if we discharge our whole duty, we shall be 
a hundred years hence what we now are, a free and indepen- 
dent people. 

Away then with that time-serving policy which would live but 
for the passing hour. We should act with reference to the best 
interests of humanity, irrespective of personal ease or gratifica- 
tion. It is for us to live for truth and virtue, for liberty and our 
Country. Thus live and thus act, and America shall be in the 
future, as in the past, great, prosperous and free. 



46. 



The following Foem ivas then delivered hy 
EZRA F. GALEIM, SSQ., 

OF 

COCHECTON, SULLIVAN CO., N. Y. 

{Composed hy him for the Occasion.) 



The first great cycle of this Nation's age 

Is fully rounded, and on history's page; 

By it we learn it was at Lexington 

That Patriot blood for liberty first run, 

And Bunker Hill — what school boy does not know 

That place, contending on his bank of snow? 

You and myself hare often tried to keep 

The fancied foe ofi" of the flaky steep. 

Brave Warren failed; a few more rounds of shot 
Would made him rictor of that glorious spot. 
These two took place before John Hancock signed 
His name so clear King George could read though blind. 

Then Saratoga where Burgoyne was bagged — 
Of whom the Lion had so ofted bragged; 
And now his name its stiff uprightness lost, 
When tidings of it had the ocean crossed: 
Alas! some said. It is no use to fight 
That Nation, for it^s coming to the light! 

Still they pursued and found on Trenton's shore 
More of a match than they had felt before. 
Great Washington who is in rererence neld 
By all the people, loyal and rebelled. 

The closing scene: by Yorktown's sunny side 
He takes their Lord, and all his men beside: 

I sing of these, the greater fight?, to show 
How fought our sires a hundred years ago: 



47. 

And shall the lesser fights be thrown aside, 
Where just as true men did their best, and died ? 

We come this day to celebrate a scene 
Which from our infancy has been kept green 
By oft rehearsal, at the fire side, 
By honored ones who long ago have died. 

A battle scene that is but little known 
Beyond the limits of our home-made zone. 
Two counties now; an Indian tract but then, 
With here and there a sprinkling of white men. 

A howling wilderness, now fertile fields, 
Where industry a bounteous harvest yields, 
And peace throughout its entire border reigns, 
"Where once was death, by tomahawk in the brains, 
To those who live on Shawangunk's softer side, 
As "Minisink"^t8 memory will abide: 
To ns, by Sullivan's great boundary stream. 
As *'Lackawack" will wake the latent beam. 

How came the parties on this lofty ground, 
In Quinlan's Sullivan is clearly found: 

Pulaski ordered where palmettos grow; 
Brandt sees his chance to dash upon his foe 
And like a vulture from the highest hills 
Swoops down by stealth, and bums and scalps and kills. 

Fair Mamakating's life first runs away; 
No darker dawn to any summer day. 
July twentieth seventeen seventy-nine, 
"When Indian and Tory rage combine; 
A bloody picture for that lovely vale, 
Where hardly one is left to tell the tale. 

The few escaped rest not till they relate 
To Tusten, Colonel of the troops of State, 
So filled with horror by the news they tell, 
Vows vengeance on this crew so fit for helL 
At Goshen rallies quick his scanty band, 
Too few to grapple with old Brandt's command; 
But still they go, determined not to faint, 
But fight the savage hideous in his paint 
Upon the way some reinforcements come — 
More courage now to sound the fife and drum: 
No fife and drum in Indian warfare, 
By steps of stealth to such contests repair. 

To Half-way Brook from Goshen in a day! 
Tired and faint near Brandt's camp-fires they lay. 



48. 

Strict vigils now this patriot band must keep — 
For Brandt is near, — or never wake from, sleep! 

The morning dawns — the day we celebrate, — 
One hundred years ago just from this date; 
Eventful time demanding greater skill 
Than was required on famous Bunker Hill. 
Their foe exposed, but here he was concealed, 
Preferring woods and rocks to open field. 

No time to lose: here Hathorn takes command, 
Who lately came from Warwick with a band. 
A council held; most of them quickly see 
To give Brandt fight would not be policy. 
Here now we find in history, something strange, 
Where one of lower rank did disarrange 
The wisdom of his peers — in Meeker's case — 
And bring upon the whole affair disgrace. 

Where in the annals of 'mankind is there 
Another one that with this can compare? 

Why did the leaders suffer this to be? 
What difference was it from rank mutiny? 

But no such version of the question found; 
He mounts his horse, and swings his sword around, 
And says, "Come on, but if you 're faint go back," 
And in this way he nerves them to attack. • 

Now nothing more is heard of this man's might; 
It is presumed he shunned the bloody fight; 
Like others living at a later day. 
Bring on a fuss then slip themselves away. 

The contest near, two scouts are sent to see 
How lays the land — what chance for victory; 
How Brandt maneuvres, if inclined to flee. 
Or stand a fight, or if in ambush lain; — 
A fatal trip for one; the first one slain. 

'Tis said that when great Kosciusko fell, 
Of whom in song Campbell has sufag so well. 
That Freedom shrieked when Poland this befell. 

'Twas no less here when Tyler's death they heard. 
It paled their cheeks, but deadly vengeance stirred; 
No patriot in those times more brave than he, 
No one more versed in Indian strategy. 

'Tis said when on the way with his war kit. 
His gun went off without his firing it; 
He heeds it not, no fear in such a thing, 
But hastens to his post where bullets sing, 
Where banded enemies to his country lie: 
Bid it of them, or fighting for it die. 

In Ensign Irvine in the late ado, 
Is demonstrated Tyler blood is true; 
Though but a Httle coursing through his veins, 
We see its high-born character remains. 



49. 

And now begins upon this barren spot 
The deadly strife that cannot be forgot. 
Consummate skill brare Hathorn fullj showed. 

And Tusten to the wounded^all his care bestowed 

Smoothing their dying bed in this wild wood 
With savage fury round, as best he could. 
All through the long and red-hot July day 
Behind these rocks in awful thirst they lay. 

With nice exactness every shot they aimed 
Which yielded death or virtually lamed. 

Joe Brandt was thinking heihad found his match, 
A handful though, in vain he tried to catch, ^i 

The end must oome: a few more rounds of shot 
They lacked, to make them victors of this spot 

With awful yells the savage crew rush out 
And what are left at once are put to rout; 
The wounded killed by tomahawk and knife, 
And now heroic Tusten yields his life, 
Like Captain Tyler dying on the field, 
And with his blood the battle-scene is sealed. 
Here four and forty patriots were slain. 
Here three and forty years untombed remain; 
How could this be, surrounded by their friends? 
How, for such treatment, can they make amends? 

At that late day few remnants could be found 
Of those great men upon this battle ground; 
But with care coffined in a single case, 
A marble monument now marks the place; 
Far oflF from here, in Goshen, ancient town. 
There read the names of those held in renown. 

How tell the rest, the record history keeps; 
There find, who dies for country sweetly sleepa 
We leave this spot; our duty now is done, 
The Patnot's deed is honored by his son. 

When this beginning cycle takes its flight 
Will others climb up to this rockyH height? 
Or will the number be increased to tell 
"Two hundred years ago our fathers did U well** 

God of those fathers, and of all their sons, 
Keep linked in love this nation as time runs, 
And may a decade of centennials be 
Eemembered through this land, as now we see. 



50. 



Raising of Funds and Incidents Connected 

Therewith, 



•BTZ^ J". "^^7"- JOIilSrSTOKT, £:SQ. 



The Centennial day and the exercises connected with it 
having passed with general, if not universal satisfaction, as we 
thinkf the members of the committee really felt and reasoned 
with themselves that, release should be had from further vexa- 
tion and toil, at least until they had time to rest from the ardu- 
ous labors they had so recently performed. They could not for 
a moment, however, escape a recollection of the fact that they 
had incurred liabilities for work, materials, Band and whatso^ 
ever was done in preparation and about the celebration, and that 
all such liabilities must be discharged either from their own 
pockets or from contributions by the public. A very few days 
previous to the celebration they had received a small amount 
from Lackawaxen and another from Barryville. 

Hopes were fully entertained that upon the day, and from 
the people who would then assemble upon the ground, sufficient 
funds would be raised; and when the large assenably was seen, 
BO vastly in excess of our anticipation, the committee was cheer- 
ed by a confidence which the number inspired. Well directed 
efiforts, however, resulted in securing the sum of thirty-one dol- 
lars only. 

Although disappointed in the result, the committee care- 
fully abstained from all manner of complaint and cheerfully re- 
turned thanks to those who contributed the amount received. 

To those who withheld their aid, they extended the excuse 
which the oppression of the times seem to demand. Business 
dull — never perhaps more prostrate, money scarce and hard to 
acquire, and it was not difficult, but quite easy to realize the 
feelings of hundreds there who had, or thought they had, more 
urgent need for the means at their command. 

One event during the eflForts to raise money from the assem- 
bly seems worthy of mention here: 



51. 



There was present an aged ladv Mrs Pannio n„, i 

had completed her eighty-th?rd vear of a'l' ^K» !r^' •T'"' 
of Jonathan Corey, dieCaSferifthe wL of llio'''"'' 

ioned\™''cLTr ''oncroTn^^rr^, %'' ?"■ ''^';' "" "'^-f^*- 
familv and wh;;i, m n "^ ^°^- fasten and used in his 

irth^exLlesof^!^^i^"'''^r''P''''^ "P"" *•>« Pl»tf°™ d". 
wa° made to the a^ed ladThe^r""^ the prooeedfngs reference 
alluded to and its Efsto?v^Ht/d 'Fk"?^^ f'j™' ''«' "^^^'^ 

fully and artist?c:n;trgl?b;Srs^trnte^L'Zh"\'""^^^ 
presented to her in tonrhin^r ^tTJ Jennie L. Johnston was 

Butts of MontfcelfoX evioX^^^^^ "."'^^ 

flaging patriotism of t h« ..m i ^^ stated. The natural and un- 

utmost andX everVf^^^^^^^ f'^ being seemingly aroused to the 
estly besoucrht the Presfdpn? ? ""^^^'^ ^^ ^^" ^'^^«^°°' «^« e^^^- 
acknowledgments fop th^^ TT'' {^ ^^' multitude her 
the pleasure anTsaJLlc^^^^^^^ ^^''.' '^'''^^^^ ^^ ^^r, 

chipfdXv^f I '^^^^^ Sreat spirit w thin her found its 

chief among tgore;eoefved''"P'''''^'="^'" *» °*" S'^^' 

memory of the acts th. « ff ' ^''^''."^ ^J'' ^°^ g^^*^^"! m her 
•institutinitrrStabLS '"' ''' ^^^"^"°^ ^^ ^^^^^ *^-^ 

ilar k^nd'' Tmt'l''th^"'.r'' ^^%^^i^^^-^ and somewhat sim- 

Nathan MitthTihon>^''T.''^ ^'°j^^^^ ^^- Austin and 

in fuirunles their W V ''"''^.^ '''^ ""^ ^«^«^ fi^d a heaven 

tory hall rmat Ji?h th ''"''*'^ ^".^ ^ remembrance of its his- 

of many yea^^^ J^^ l^^ve lived until the toils 

'Oftimehave Wd?f 1 *^^^^^^^ the lessons 

^while wLlly uTasM ^^^ institutions; and 

nouy unasked, from considerations of their age and cir- 



52. 

cumstances, have sought the channel through which to contrib- 
ute their dollar, and thereby to exhibit their grateful and un- 
dying remembrance of the men and the deeds which made them 
free. 

Left as above shown with a considerable debt on hand, the 
Committee by its Chairman, J. W. Johnston, adopted the ex- 
periment of writing and stating the financial condition to differ- 
ent sections, mostly of Sullivan County, selecting for such pur- 
pose men only who were engaged in public business — merchants, 
editors, officials and professional men; and not wishing to impose, 
in any form, a burden upon any, the suggestion was generally 
made that $5 from each would fully equal the expectations. 
Hence the statement was sent to Cochecton, Callicoon, Nar- 
rowsburgh, Rowland's, Pa., Port Jervis, Orange Co., Monti- 
cello, Wurtsboro, &c., &c. 

The following is a list of all moneys received from a]II 
sources, with names of the subscribers and the amount by 
each subscribed : 

AMOUNT KKCEIVED ON GROUND DURING THE CENTENNIAL DAT. 



Hon. Geo. H. Rowland, $5.00 

Thomas J. Ridgeway, 5.00 

Alfred VanTuyl, 5.00 

Mr, Brunson, 1.00 

Mr. Hadden, 1.00 

Mr. Corwin, 1.00 

Simeon Westfall, 1.00 

Nathan Mitchell, 1.00 



Charles Hill, 
Joseph Stern, 
Mrs. S. WestfaU, 
Alexander C. Wells, 
Abel S. Myers, 
Four strangers, 



Total, 



LACKAWAXEN. 



1.00 

25. 
2.00 
1.00 
5.00 
1.75 



$31.00 



S. v. King, depot agent, $2.00 
N. Mitchell, saloon keeper, 5.00 
C. C. Shannon, merchant, 3.00 
C. VanBenschoten, 

hotel keeper 2.00 

J. S. Williamson, merchant, l.OO 



John H. Smith, merchant, 1.00 
Chas. Gilshinon, merchant, LOG 
J. F. Holbert, hotel keeper, 5.00 
Arthur Dabron, physician, 2.00 



Total, 



$22.00 



BARRYVILLE. 



Edwin Bowly, merchant, $5.00 
Peter McCallum, " 5.00 

J.W.Johnston, Jr. « 

besides materials, 1.00 
Geo. Devenport, mechanic, 1.00 
N. B. Johnston, physician, 5.00 
C. G. Johnston, " 2.00 
W.C. Stidd, Justice Peace, 1.00 



R. Frazer, school teacher, 5.0Cb 
D. Bogert, stone dealer, 2.00> 
B.C.Austin, aged mechanic, l.OOi 
Mrs. F. Corey, aged lady, 1.00 
W. F. Proctor, sewing mar- 
chine manufacturer, 5.00 



Total, 



$34.00> 



53. 



MONTICELLO. 

Hon. Thornton A. Niven, John Waller, editor 3.00 

attorney at law, $10.00 

Hon.T.F. Bush, attoirney, 5.00 Total, f!23.0O 
L. N. Stanton, Co. Clerk, 5.00 

COCHECTON AND DAMASCUS. 

EUery T. Calkin, hotel keeper, $4; H. P. O'Riley, ^1— $5.00 
Following appears the names of fifteen subscribers, all of 
whom are relatives of the Capt. Tyler who first passed the gate 
of death at the Minisink struggle, and which subscriptions were 
obtained by the exertions of Wm. W. Tyler whose grandfatker 
was a brother of said Capt. Tyler: 

1.00 
1.00 
li)0 
1.00 
1.00 
2.00 



Lorenzo D. Tyler, $1.00 

Charles Irwin, 1.00 

Wm. W. Tyler, 1.00 

B. C. Boss, 1.00 

Walter J. Bushj 1.00 

J. F. Tyler, 1.00 

Moses Tyler, 1.00 

A. Tyler, 1.00 

George 8. Bush, 1.00 



Elliot Tyler, 
Oliver Tyler, 
Wm. V. Ross, 
Calvin Tyler, 
Richard S. Tyler, 
Wm. W. Tyler, 



Total, 



$21.00 



SUMMAUY. 

On the ground 

Lackawaxen 

Bairyville 

Monticello 

Cochecton and Damascus 



$31.00 
22.00 
34.00 
23.00 
21.00 



Grand total 



$131.00 



54. 



PAGB. 

History of the battle, the field, march of the armies, &c. 1 

By J. W. Johnston. 
Account of the celebration and its organization. 13 

Br Albert Stage. 
View of the battle field drawn from actual survey. 

By J. W. Johnston. 
Draft of the monument and account of its construction. 

By J. W. Johnston. 
Introductory address, by J. W. Johnston. 18 

Pj-ayer, by Rev. J. B. Williams. 23 

Oration, by Hon. Wm. J. Groo. 25 

Address, by Hon. A. C. Butts. 35 

" relevant to Mrs. Corey by J. W. Johnston. 37 

" by Hon. George H. Rowland. 39 

'• by Hon. Thomas J. Lyon. 43 

Poem, by Ezra F. Calkin, Esq. 46 

Raising of funds and incidents connected therewith. 50 

By J. W. Johnston. 



6 



